Systems and methods for supporting mobility of users with seamless connectivity in a network of moving things

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for supporting mobility of users with seamless connectivity in a network of moving things. A controller may be used to manage mobility of a plurality of end-user devices in a network of moving things. A request to establish a wireless connection with a network of moving things may be received from an end-user device, via a first access point of the network. A network identifier for the end-user device may be determined, with the network identifier configured for enabling wireless communication via the network. The determining includes assigning the network identifier to the end-user device if the end-user device is not known to the controller, and retrieving the network identifier if the end-user device is known to the controller. The network identifier is then sent to the end-user device that transmitted the request.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/414,079, filed on Jan. 24, 2017, which makes reference to,claims priority to, and claims benefit from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 62/326,267, filed on Apr. 22, 2016, and titled“Systems and Methods for Managing Mobility of Users in a Network ofMoving Things at the Backhaul,” Each of the above identifiedapplications is hereby incorporated herein by reference, in itsentirety.

The present application is also related to:

U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/221,997, titled “IntegratedCommunication Network for a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,016, titled “Systems andMethods for Synchronizing a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,042, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,066, titled “Systems andMethods for Monitoring a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,077, titled “Systems andMethods for Detecting and Classifying Anomalies in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,098, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing Mobility in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,121, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing Connectivity a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,135, titled “Systems andMethods for Collecting Sensor Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filedon Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,145, titled “Systems andMethods for Interfacing with a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep.22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,150, titled “Systems andMethods for Interfacing with a User of a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,168, titled “Systems andMethods for Data Storage and Processing for a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,183, titled “Systems andMethods for Vehicle Traffic Management in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,186, titled “Systems andMethods for Environmental Management in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,190, titled “Systems andMethods for Port Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/222,192, titled“Communication Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/244,828, titled “UtilizingHistorical Data to Correct GPS Data in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Oct. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/244,930, titled “Using Anchorsto Correct GPS Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Oct. 22,2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/246,368, titled “Systems andMethods for Inter-Application Communication in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Oct. 26, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/246,372, titled “Systems andMethods for Probing and Validating Communication in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Oct. 26, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/250,544, titled “Adaptive RateControl for Vehicular Networks,” filed on Nov. 4, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/273,878, titled “Systems andMethods for Reconfiguring and Adapting Hardware in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Dec. 31, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/253,249, titled “Systems andMethods for Optimizing Data Gathering in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Nov. 10, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/257,421, titled “Systems andMethods for Delay Tolerant Networking in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Nov. 19, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/265,267, titled “Systems andMethods for Improving Coverage and Throughput of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 9, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/270,858, titled “ChannelCoordination in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/257,854, titled “Systems andMethods for Network Coded Mesh Networking in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Nov. 20, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/260,749, titled “Systems andMethods for Improving Fixed Access Point Coverage in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Nov. 30, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/273,715, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing Mobility Controllers and Their Network Interactionsin a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 31, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/281,432, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing and Triggering Handovers of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan. 21, 2016;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/268,188, titled “CaptivePortal-related Control and Management in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 16, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/270,678, titled “Systems andMethods to Extrapolate High-Value Data from a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 22, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/272,750, titled “Systems andMethods for Remote Software Update and Distribution in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Dec. 30, 2015;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,662, titled “Systems andMethods for Remote Configuration Update and Distribution in a Network ofMoving Things,” filed on Jan. 14, 2016;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/286,243, titled “Systems andMethods for Adapting a Network of Moving Things Based on User Feedback,”filed on Jan. 22, 2016;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,764, titled “Systems andMethods to Guarantee Data Integrity When Building Data Analytics in aNetwork of Moving Things,” Jan. 14, 2016;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/286,515, titled “Systems andMethods for Self-Initialization and Automated Bootstrapping of MobileAccess Points in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan. 25, 2016;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/295,602, titled “Systems andMethods for Power Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onFeb. 16, 2016;U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/299,269, titled “Systems andMethods for Automating and Easing the Installation and Setup of theInfrastructure Supporting a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 24,2016; andU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/326,277, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Mobility of Users in a Network of Moving Things at theEdge,” filed on Apr. 22, 2016.

Each of above identified application is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Current communication networks are unable to adequately supportcommunication environments involving mobile and static nodes. As anon-limiting example, current communication networks are unable toadequately support a network comprising a complex array of both movingand static nodes (e.g., the Internet of moving things, autonomousvehicle networks, etc.). Limitations and disadvantages of conventionalmethods and systems will become apparent to one of skill in the art,through comparison of such approaches with some aspects of the presentmethods and systems for managing mobility of users in a network ofmoving things, as set forth in the remainder of this disclosure withreference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a communication network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram of a metropolitan area network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a communication network, in accordancewith various aspects of this disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5C show a plurality of network configurations illustrating theflexibility and/or and resiliency of a communication network, inaccordance with various aspects of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an example communication network, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the functional elements of anexample network controller (NC), in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram illustrating the functional elements of anexample mobile access point (MAP), in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates actions of a mobile access point (MAP) in response toreceipt of the request from an end-user device, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates actions of a network controller NC2 in response toreceipt of the request from an end-user device, which may correspond tothe NC2 and end-user device of FIG. 9, respectively, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an end-user device moving from afirst connection (e.g., association) with mobile AP MAP4 to a secondconnection/association with a mobile AP MAP5, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the response of a networkcontroller NC2 to a registration request received from a MAP5 connectedto an end-user device, which may correspond, respectively, to thenetwork controller NC2, the end-user device, and the MAP5 of FIG. 11, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating example network behavior when anend-user device already communicating via, for example, MAP5 of FIG. 12encounters and connects to a MAP6, in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Various aspects of this disclosure provide communication networkarchitectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobileand/or static nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of thisdisclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, andmethods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication networkcomprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes(e.g., the Internet of moving things, autonomous vehicle networks,etc.). For example, a communication network implemented in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may support methods andsystems for managing mobility of users in a network of moving things.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE

As utilized herein the terms “circuits” and “circuitry” refer tophysical electronic components (i.e., hardware) and any software and/orfirmware (“code”) that may configure the hardware, be executed by thehardware, and or otherwise be associated with the hardware. As usedherein, for example, a particular processor and memory (e.g., a volatileor non-volatile memory device, a general computer-readable medium, etc.)may comprise a first “circuit” when executing a first one or more linesof code and may comprise a second “circuit” when executing a second oneor more lines of code. Additionally, a circuit may comprise analogand/or digital circuitry. Such circuitry may, for example, operate onanalog and/or digital signals. It should be understood that a circuitmay be in a single device or chip, on a single motherboard, in a singlechassis, in a plurality of enclosures at a single geographical location,in a plurality of enclosures distributed over a plurality ofgeographical locations, etc. Similarly, the term “module” may, forexample, refer to a physical electronic components (i.e., hardware) andany software and/or firmware (“code”) that may configure the hardware,be executed by the hardware, and or otherwise be associated with thehardware.

As utilized herein, circuitry is “operable” to perform a functionwhenever the circuitry comprises the necessary hardware and code (if anyis necessary) to perform the function, regardless of whether performanceof the function is disabled, or not enabled (e.g., by auser-configurable setting, factory setting or trim, etc.).

As utilized herein, “and/or” means any one or more of the items in thelist joined by “and/or”. As an example, “x and/or y” means any elementof the three-element set {(x), (y), (x, y)}. That is, “x and/or y” means“one or both of x and y.” As another example, “x, y, and/or z” means anyelement of the seven-element set {(x), (y), (z), (x, y), (x, z), (y, z),(x, y, z)}. That is, “x, y, and/or z” means “one or more of x, y, andz.” As utilized herein, the terms “e.g.,” and “for example,”“exemplary,” and the like set off lists of one or more non-limitingexamples, instances, or illustrations.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularexamples only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. Asused herein, the singular forms are intended to include the plural formsas well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will befurther understood that the terms “comprises,” “includes,” “comprising,”“including,” “has,” “have,” “having,” and the like when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another element. Thus, for example, a first element, afirst component or a first section discussed below could be termed asecond element, a second component or a second section without departingfrom the teachings of the present disclosure. Similarly, various spatialterms, such as “upper,” “lower,” “side,” and the like, may be used indistinguishing one element from another element in a relative manner. Itshould be understood, however, that components may be oriented indifferent manners, for example an electronic device may be turnedsideways so that its “top” surface is facing horizontally and its “side”surface is facing vertically, without departing from the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

With the proliferation of the mobile and/or static things (e.g.,devices, machines, people, etc.) and logistics for such things to becomeconnected to each other (e.g., in the contexts of smart logistics,transportation, environmental sensing, etc.), a platform that is forexample always-on, robust, scalable and secure that is capable ofproviding connectivity, services and Internet access to such things (orobjects), anywhere and anytime is desirable. Efficient power utilizationwithin the various components of such system is also desirable.

Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure provide afully-operable, always-on, responsive, robust, scalable, secureplatform/system/architecture to provide connectivity, services andInternet access to all mobile things and/or static things (e.g.,devices, machines, people, access points, end user devices, sensors,etc.) anywhere and anytime, while operating in an energy-efficientmanner.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a platform that isflexibly configurable and adaptable to the various requirements,features, and needs of different environments, where each environmentmay be characterized by a respective level of mobility and density ofmobile and/or static things, and the number and/or types of access tothose things. Characteristics of various environments may, for example,include high mobility of nodes (e.g., causing contacts or connections tobe volatile), high number of neighbors, high number of connected mobileusers, mobile access points, availability of multiple networks andtechnologies (e.g., sometimes within a same area), etc. For example, themode of operation of the platform may be flexibly adapted fromenvironment to environment, based on each environment's respectiverequirements and needs, which may be different from other environments.Additionally for example, the platform may be flexibly optimized (e.g.,at design/installation time and/or in real-time) for different purposes(e.g., to reduce the latency, increase throughput, reduce powerconsumption, load balance, increase reliability, make more robust withregard to failures or other disturbances, etc.), for example based onthe content, service or data that the platform provides or handleswithin a particular environment.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, manycontrol and management services (e.g., mobility, security, routing,etc.) are provided on top of the platform (e.g., directly, using controloverlays, using containers, etc.), such services being compatible withthe services currently deployed on top of the Internet or othercommunication network(s).

The communication network (or platform), in whole or in part, may forexample be operated in public and/or private modes of operation, forexample depending on the use case. The platform may, for example,operate in a public or private mode of operation, depending on theuse-case (e.g., public Internet access, municipal environment sensing,fleet operation, etc.).

Additionally for example, in an implementation in which various networkcomponents are mobile, the transportation and/or signal controlmechanisms may be adapted to serve the needs of the particularimplementation. Also for example, wireless transmission power and/orrate may be adapted (e.g., to mitigate interference, to reduce powerconsumption, to extend the life of network components, etc.

Various example implementations of a platform, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure, are capable of connectingdifferent subsystems, even when various other subsystems that maynormally be utilized are unavailable. For example, the platform maycomprise various built-in redundancies and fail-recovery mechanisms. Forexample, the platform may comprise a self-healing capability,self-configuration capability, self-adaptation capability, etc. Theprotocols and functions of the platform may, for example, be prepared tobe autonomously and smoothly configured and adapted to the requirementsand features of different environments characterized by different levelsof mobility and density of things (or objects), the number/types ofaccess to those things. For example, various aspects of the platform maygather context parameters that can influence any or all decisions. Suchparameters may, for example, be derived locally, gathered from aneighborhood, fixed APs, the Cloud, etc. Various aspects of the platformmay also, for example, ask for historical information to feed any of thedecisions, where such information can be derived from historical data,from surveys, from simulators, etc. Various aspects of the platform mayadditionally, for example, probe or monitor decisions made throughoutthe network, for example to evaluate the network and/or the decisionsthemselves in real-time. Various aspects of the platform may further,for example, enforce the decisions in the network (e.g., afterevaluating the probing results). Various aspects of the platform may,for example, establish thresholds to avoid any decision that is to beconstantly or repeatedly performed without any significant advantage(e.g., technology change, certificate change, IP change, etc.). Variousaspects of the platform may also, for example, learn locally (e.g., withthe decisions performed) and dynamically update the decisions.

In addition to (or instead of) failure robustness, a platform mayutilize multiple connections (or pathways) that exist between distinctsub-systems or elements within the same sub-system, to increase therobustness and/or load-balancing of the system.

The following discussion will present examples of the functionalityperformed by various example subsystems of the communication network. Itshould be understood that the example functionality discussed hereinneed not be performed by the particular example subsystem or by a singlesubsystem. For example, the subsystems present herein may interact witheach other, and data or control services may be deployed either in acentralized way, or having their functionalities distributed among thedifferent subsystems, for example leveraging the cooperation between theelements of each subsystem.

Various aspects of the present disclosure provide a communicationnetwork (e.g., a city-wide vehicular network, a shipping port-sizedvehicular network, a campus-wide vehicular network, etc.) that utilizesvehicles (e.g., automobiles, buses, trucks, boats, forklifts,human-operated vehicles, autonomous and/or remote controlled vehicles,etc.) as Wi-Fi hotspots. Note that Wi-Fi is generally used throughoutthis discussion as an example, but the scope of various aspects of thisdisclosure is not limited thereto. For example, other wireless LANtechnologies, PAN technologies, MAN technologies, etc., may be utilized.Such utilization may, for example, provide cost-effective ways to gathersubstantial amounts of urban data, and provide for the efficientoffloading of traffic from congested cellular networks (or othernetworks). In controlled areas (e.g., ports, harbors, etc.) with manyvehicles, a communication network in accordance with various aspects ofthis disclosure may expand the wireless coverage of existing enterpriseWi-Fi networks, for example providing for real-time communication withvehicle drivers (e.g., human, computer-controlled, etc.) and othermobile employees without the need for SIM cards or cellular (or othernetwork) data plans.

Vehicles may have many advantageous characteristics that make themuseful as Wi-Fi (or general wireless) hotspots. For example, vehiclesgenerally have at least one battery, vehicles are generally denselyspread over the city at street level and/or they are able to establishmany contacts with each other in a controlled space, and vehicles cancommunicate with 10× the range of normal Wi-Fi in the 5.9 GHz frequencyband, reserved for intelligent transportation systems in the EU, theU.S., and elsewhere. Note that the scope of this disclosure is notlimited to such 5.9 GHz wireless communication. Further, vehicles areable to effectively expand their coverage area into a swath over aperiod of time, enabling a single vehicle access point to interact withsubstantially more data sources over the period of time.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, anaffordable multi-network on-board unit (OBU) is presented. Note that theOBU may also be referred to herein as a mobile access point, Mobile AP,MAP, etc. The OBU may, for example, comprise a plurality of networkinginterfaces (e.g., Wi-Fi, 802.11p, 4G, Bluetooth, UWB, etc.). The OBUmay, for example, be readily installed in or on private and/or publicvehicles (e.g., individual user vehicles, vehicles of private fleets,vehicles of public fleets, etc.). The OBU may, for example, be installedin transportation fleets, waste management fleets, law enforcementfleets, emergency services, road maintenance fleets, taxi fleets,aircraft fleets, etc. The OBU may, for example, be installed in or on avehicle or other structure with free mobility or relatively limitedmobility. The OBU may also, for example, be carried by a person orservice animal, mounted to a bicycle, mounted to a moving machine ingeneral, mounted to a container, etc.

The OBUs may, for example, operate to connect passing vehicles to thewired infrastructure of one or more network providers, telecomoperators, etc. In accordance with the architecture, hardware, andsoftware functionality discussed herein, vehicles and fleets can beconnected not just to the cellular networks (or other wide area ormetropolitan area networks, etc.) and existing Wi-Fi hotspots spreadover a city or a controlled space, but also to other vehicles (e.g.,utilizing multi-hop communications to a wired infrastructure, single ormulti-hop peer-to-peer vehicle communication, etc.). The vehicles and/orfleets may, for example, form an overall mesh of communication links,for example including the OBUs and also fixed Access Points (APs)connected to the wired infrastructure (e.g., a local infrastructure,etc.). Note that OBUs herein may also be referred to as “Mobile APs,”“mobile hotspots,” “MAP5,” etc. Also note that fixed access points mayalso be referred to herein as Road Side Units (RSUs), Fixed APs, FAPs,etc.

In an example implementation, the OBUs may communicate with the FixedAPs utilizing a relatively long-range protocol (e.g., 802.11p, etc.),and the Fixed APs may, in turn, be hard wired to the wiredinfrastructure (e.g., via cable, tethered optical link, etc.). Note thatFixed APs may also, or alternatively, be coupled to the infrastructurevia wireless link (e.g., 802.11p, etc.). Additionally, clients or userdevices may communicate with the OBUs using one or more relativelyshort-range protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, UWB, etc.). The OBUs, forexample having a longer effective wireless communication range thantypical Wi-Fi access points or other wireless LAN/PAN access points(e.g., at least for links such as those based on 802.11p, etc.), arecapable of substantially greater coverage areas than typical Wi-Fi orother wireless LAN/PAN access points, and thus fewer OBUs are necessaryto provide blanket coverage over a geographical area.

The OBU may, for example, comprise a robust vehicular networking module(e.g., a connection manager) which builds on long-range communicationprotocol capability (e.g., 802.11p, etc.). For example, in addition tocomprising 802.11p (or other long-range protocol) capability tocommunicate with Fixed APs, vehicles, and other nodes in the network,the OBU may comprise a network interface (e.g., 802.11a/b/g/n, 802.11ac,802.11af, any combination thereof, etc.) to provide wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) connectivity to end user devices, sensors, fixed Wi-Fiaccess points, etc. For example, the OBU may operate to providein-vehicle Wi-Fi Internet access to users in and/or around the vehicle(e.g., a bus, train car, taxi cab, public works vehicle, etc.). The OBUmay further comprise one or more wireless backbone communicationinterfaces (e.g., cellular network interfaces, etc.). Though in variousexample scenarios, a cellular network interface (or other wirelessbackbone communication interface) might not be the preferred interfacefor various reasons (e.g., cost, power, bandwidth, etc.), the cellularnetwork interface may be utilized to provide connectivity ingeographical areas that are not presently supported by a Fixed AP, maybe utilized to provide a fail-over communication link, may be utilizedfor emergency communications, may be utilized to subscribe to localinfrastructure access, etc. The cellular network interface may also, forexample, be utilized to allow the deployment of solutions that aredependent on the cellular network operators.

An OBU, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure,may for example comprise a smart connection manager that can select thebest available wireless link(s) (e.g., Wi-Fi, 802.11p, cellular, vehiclemesh, etc.) with which to access the Internet. The OBU may also, forexample, provide geo-location capabilities (e.g., GPS, etc.), motiondetection sensors to determine if the vehicle is in motion, and a powercontrol subsystem (e.g., to ensure that the OBU does not deplete thevehicle battery, etc.). The OBU may, for example, comprise any or all ofthe sensors (e.g., environmental sensors, etc.) discussed herein.

The OBU may also, for example, comprise a manager that managesmachine-to-machine data acquisition and transfer (e.g., in a real-timeor delay-tolerant fashion) to and from the cloud. For example, the OBUmay log and/or communicate information of the vehicles.

The OBU may, for example, comprise a connection and/or routing managerthat operates to perform routing of communications in avehicle-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-infrastructure multi-hop communication. Amobility manager (or controller, MC) may, for example, ensure thatcommunication sessions persist over one or more handoff(s) (alsoreferred to herein as a “handover” or “handovers”) (e.g., betweendifferent Mobile APs, Fixed APs, base stations, hot spots, etc.), amongdifferent technologies (e.g., 802.11p, cellular, Wi-Fi, satellite,etc.), among different MCs (e.g., in a fail-over scenario, loadredistribution scenario, etc.), across different interfaces (or ports),etc. Note that the MC may also be referred to herein as a Local MobilityAnchor (LMA), a Network Controller, etc. Note that the MC, or aplurality thereof, may for example be implemented as part of thebackbone, but may also, or alternatively, be implemented as part of anyof a variety of components or combinations thereof. For example, the MCmay be implemented in a Fixed AP (or distributed system thereof), aspart of an OBU (or a distributed system thereof), etc. Variousnon-limiting examples of system components and/or methods are providedin U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/222,098, filed Sep. 22, 2015, andtitled “Systems and Method for Managing Mobility in a Network of MovingThings,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein byreference. Note that in an example implementation including a pluralityof MCs, such MCs may be co-located and/or may be geographicallydistributed.

Various aspects of the present disclosure also provide a cloud-basedservice-oriented architecture that handles the real-time management,monitoring and reporting of the network and clients, the functionalitiesrequired for data storage, processing and management, the Wi-Fi clientauthentication and Captive Portal display, etc.

A communication network (or component thereof) in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure may, for example, support awide range of smart city applications (or controlled scenarios, orconnected scenarios, etc.) and/or use-cases, as described herein.

For example, an example implementation may operate to turn each vehicle(e.g., both public and private taxis, buses, trucks, etc.) into a MobileAP (e.g., a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot), offering Internet access toemployees, passengers and mobile users travelling in the city, waitingin bus stops, sitting in parks, etc. Moreover, through an examplevehicular mesh network formed between vehicles and/or fleets ofvehicles, an implementation may be operable to offload cellular trafficthrough the mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and/or fixed APs (e.g., 802.11p-basedAPs) spread over the city and connected to the wired infrastructure ofpublic or private telecom operators in strategic places, while ensuringthe widest possible coverage at the lowest possible cost.

An example implementation (e.g., of a communication network and/orcomponents thereof) may, for example, be operable as a massive urbanscanner that gathers large amounts of data (e.g., continuously)on-the-move, actionable or not, generated by a myriad of sourcesspanning from the in-vehicle sensors or On Board Diagnostic System port(e.g., OBD2, etc.), interface with an autonomous vehicle driving system,external Wi-Fi/Bluetooth-enabled sensing units spread over the city,devices of vehicles' drivers and passengers (e.g., informationcharacterizing such devices and/or passengers, etc.), positioning systemdevices (e.g., position information, velocity information, trajectoryinformation, travel history information, etc.), etc.

Depending on the use case, the OBU may for example process (or computer,transform, manipulate, aggregate, summarize, etc.) the data beforesending the data from the vehicle, for example providing the appropriategranularity (e.g., value resolution) and sampling rates (e.g., temporalresolution) for each individual application. For example, the OBU may,for example, process the data in any manner deemed advantageous by thesystem. The OBU may, for example, send the collected data (e.g., rawdata, preprocessed data, information of metrics calculated based on thecollected data, etc.) to the Cloud (e.g., to one or more networkedservers coupled to any portion of the network) in an efficient andreliable manner to improve the efficiency, environmental impact andsocial value of municipal city operations and transportation services.Various example use cases are described herein.

In an example scenario in which public buses are moving along cityroutes and/or taxis are performing their private transportationservices, the OBU is able to collect large quantities of real-time datafrom the positioning systems (e.g., GPS, etc.), from accelerometermodules, etc. The OBU may then, for example, communicate such data tothe Cloud, where the data may be processed, reported and viewed, forexample to support such public or private bus and/or taxi operations,for example supporting efficient remote monitoring and scheduling ofbuses and taxis, respectively.

In an example implementation, small cameras (or other sensors) may becoupled to small single-board computers (SBCs) that are placed above thedoors of public buses to allow capturing image sequences of peopleentering and leaving buses, and/or on stops along the bus routes inorder to estimate the number of people waiting for a bus. Such data maybe gathered by the OBU in order to be sent to the Cloud. With such data,public transportation systems may detect peaks; overcrowded buses,routes and stops; underutilized buses, routes and stops; etc., enablingaction to be taken in real-time (e.g., reducing bus periodicity todecrease fuel costs and CO2 emissions where and when passenger flows aresmaller, etc.) as well as detecting systematic transportation problems.

An OBU may, for example, be operable to communicate with any of avariety of Wi-Fi-enabled sensor devices equipped with a heterogeneouscollection of environmental sensors. Such sensors may, for example,comprise noise sensors (microphones, etc.), gas sensors (e.g., sensingCO, NO2, 03, volatile organic compounds (or VOCs), CO2, etc.), smokesensors, pollution sensors, meteorological sensors (e.g., sensingtemperature, humidity, luminosity, particles, solar radiation, windspeed (e.g., anemometer), wind direction, rain (e.g., a pluviometer),optical scanners, biometric scanners, cameras, microphones, etc.). Suchsensors may also comprise sensors associated with users (e.g., vehicleoperators or passengers, passersby, etc.) and/or their personal devices(e.g., smart phones or watches, biometrics sensors, wearable sensors,implanted sensors, etc.). Such sensors may, for example, comprisesensors and/or systems associated with on-board diagnostic (OBD) unitsfor vehicles, autonomous vehicle driving systems, etc. Such sensors may,for example, comprise positioning sensors (e.g., GPS sensors, Galileosensors, GLONASS sensors, etc.). Note that such positioning sensors maybe part of a vehicle's operational system (e.g., a localhuman-controlled vehicle, an autonomous vehicle, a remotehuman-controlled vehicle, etc.) Such sensors may, for example, comprisecontainer sensors (e.g., garbage can sensors, shipping containersensors, container environmental sensors, container tracking sensors,etc.).

Once a vehicle enters the vicinity of such a sensor device, a wirelesslink may be established, so that the vehicle (or OBU thereof) cancollect sensor data from the sensor device and upload the collected datato a database in the Cloud. The appropriate action can then be taken. Inan example waste management implementation, several waste management (orcollection) trucks may be equipped with OBUs that are able toperiodically communicate with sensors installed on containers in orderto gather information about waste level, time passed since lastcollection, etc. Such information may then sent to the Cloud (e.g., to awaste management application coupled to the Internet, etc.) through thevehicular mesh network, in order to improve the scheduling and/orrouting of waste management trucks. Note that various sensors may alwaysbe in range of the Mobile AP (e.g., vehicle-mounted sensors). Note thatthe sensor may also (or alternatively) be mobile (e.g., a sensor mountedto another vehicle passing by a Mobile AP or Fixed AP, a drone-mountedsensor, a pedestrian-mounted sensor, etc.).

In an example implementation, for example in a controlled space (e.g., aport, harbor, airport, factory, plantation, mine, etc.) with manyvehicles, machines and employees, a communication network in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may expand the wirelesscoverage of enterprise and/or local Wi-Fi networks, for example withoutresorting to a Telco-dependent solution based on SIM cards or cellularfees. In such an example scenario, apart from avoiding expensivecellular data plans, limited data rate and poor cellular coverage insome places, a communication network in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure is also able to collect and/or communicatelarge amounts of data, in a reliable and real-time manner, where suchdata may be used to optimize harbor logistics, transportationoperations, etc.

For example in a port and/or harbor implementation, by gatheringreal-time information on the position, speed, fuel consumption and CO2emissions of the vehicles, the communication network allows a portoperator to improve the coordination of the ship loading processes andincrease the throughput of the harbor. Also for example, thecommunication network enables remote monitoring of drivers' behaviors,behaviors of autonomous vehicles and/or control systems thereof, trucks'positions and engines' status, and then be able to provide real-timenotifications to drivers (e.g., to turn on/off the engine, follow theright route inside the harbor, take a break, etc.), for example humandrivers and/or automated vehicle driving systems, thus reducing thenumber and duration of the harbor services and trips. Harbor authoritiesmay, for example, quickly detect malfunctioning trucks and abnormaltrucks' circulation, thus avoiding accidents in order to increase harborefficiency, security, and safety. Additionally, the vehicles can alsoconnect to Wi-Fi access points from harbor local operators, and provideWi-Fi Internet access to vehicles' occupants and surrounding harboremployees, for example allowing pilots to save time by filing reportsvia the Internet while still on the water.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication network 100, inaccordance with various aspects of this disclosure. Any or all of thefunctionality discussed herein may be performed by any or all of theexample components of the example network 100. Also, the example network100 may, for example, share any or all characteristics with the otherexample networks and/or network components 200, 300, 400, 500-570, and600, discussed herein.

The example network 100, for example, comprises a Cloud that may, forexample comprise any of a variety of network level components. The Cloudmay, for example, comprise any of a variety of server systems executingapplications that monitor and/or control components of the network 100.Such applications may also, for example, manage the collection ofinformation from any of a large array of networked information sources,many examples of which are discussed herein. The Cloud (or a portionthereof) may also be referred to, at times, as an API. For example,Cloud (or a portion thereof) may provide one or more applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) which other devices may use forcommunicating/interacting with the Cloud.

An example component of the Cloud may, for example, manageinteroperability with various multi-cloud systems and architectures.Another example component (e.g., a Cloud service component) may, forexample, provide various cloud services (e.g., captive portal services,authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services, APIGateway services, etc.). An additional example component (e.g., aDevCenter component) may, for example, provide network monitoring and/ormanagement functionality, manage the implementation of software updates,etc. A further example component of the Cloud may manage data storage,data analytics, data access, etc. A still further example component ofthe Cloud may include any of a variety of third-partly applications andservices.

The Cloud may, for example, be coupled to the Backbone/CoreInfrastructure of the example network 100 via the Internet (e.g.,utilizing one or more Internet Service Providers). Though the Internetis provided by example, it should be understood that scope of thepresent disclosure is not limited thereto.

The Backbone/Core may, for example, comprise any one or more differentcommunication infrastructure components. For example, one or moreproviders may provide backbone networks or various components thereof.As shown in the example network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, a Backboneprovider may provide wireline access (e.g., PSTN, fiber, cable, etc.).Also for example, a Backbone provider may provide wireless access (e.g.,Microwave, LTE/Cellular, 5G/TV Spectrum, etc.).

The Backbone/Core may also, for example, comprise one or more LocalInfrastructure Providers. The Backbone/Core may also, for example,comprise a private infrastructure (e.g., run by the network 100implementer, owner, etc.). The Backbone/Core may, for example, provideany of a variety of Backbone Services (e.g., AAA, Mobility, Monitoring,Addressing, Routing, Content services, Gateway Control services, etc.).

The Backbone/Core Infrastructure may comprise any of a variety ofcharacteristics, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. Forexample, the Backbone/Core may be compatible with different wireless orwired technologies for backbone access. The Backbone/Core may also beadaptable to handle public (e.g., municipal, city, campus, etc.) and/orprivate (e.g., ports, campus, etc.) network infrastructures owned bydifferent local providers, and/or owned by the network implementer orstakeholder. The Backbone/Core may, for example, comprise and/orinterface with different Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting(AAA) mechanisms.

The Backbone/Core Infrastructure may, for example, support differentmodes of operation (e.g., L2 in port implementations, L3 in on-landpublic transportation implementations, utilizing any one or more of aplurality of different layers of digital IP networking, any combinationsthereof, equivalents thereof, etc.) or addressing pools. TheBackbone/Core may also for example, be agnostic to the Cloud provider(s)and/or Internet Service Provider(s). Additionally for example, theBackbone/Core may be agnostic to requests coming from any or allsubsystems of the network 100 (e.g., Mobile APs or OBUs (On BoardUnits), Fixed APs or RSUs (Road Side Units), MCs (Mobility Controllers)or LMAs (Local Mobility Anchors) or Network Controllers, etc.) and/orthird-party systems.

The Backbone/Core Infrastructure may, for example, comprise the abilityto utilize and/or interface with different data storage/processingsystems (e.g., MongoDB, MySql, Redis, etc.). The Backbone/CoreInfrastructure may further, for example, provide different levels ofsimultaneous access to the infrastructure, services, data, etc.

The example network 100 may also, for example, comprise a Fixed HotspotAccess Network. Various example characteristics of such a Fixed HotspotAccess Network 200 are shown at FIG. 2. The example network 200 may, forexample, share any or all characteristics with the other examplenetworks and/or network components 100, 300, 400, 500-570, and 600,discussed herein.

In the example network 200, the Fixed APs (e.g., the proprietary APs,the public third party APs, the private third party APs, etc.) may bedirectly connected to the local infrastructure provider and/or to thewireline/wireless backbone. Also for example, the example network 200may comprise a mesh between the various APs via wireless technologies.Note, however, that various wired technologies may also be utilizeddepending on the implementation. As shown, different fixed hotspotaccess networks can be connected to a same backbone provider, but mayalso be connected to different respective backbone providers. In anexample implementation utilizing wireless technology for backboneaccess, such an implementation may be relatively fault tolerant. Forexample, a Fixed AP may utilize wireless communications to the backbonenetwork (e.g., cellular, 3G, LTE, other wide or metropolitan areanetworks, etc.) if the backhaul infrastructure is down. Also forexample, such an implementation may provide for relatively easyinstallation (e.g., a Fixed AP with no cable power source that can beplaced virtually anywhere).

In the example network 200, the same Fixed AP can simultaneously provideaccess to multiple Fixed APs, Mobile APs (e.g., vehicle OBUs, etc.),devices, user devices, sensors, things, etc. For example, a plurality ofmobile hotspot access networks (e.g., OBU-based networks, etc.) mayutilize the same Fixed AP. Also for example, the same Fixed AP canprovide a plurality of simultaneous accesses to another single unit(e.g., another Fixed AP, Mobile AP, device, etc.), for example utilizingdifferent channels, different radios, etc.).

Note that a plurality of Fixed APs may be utilized forfault-tolerance/fail-recovery purposes. In an example implementation, aFixed AP and its fail-over AP may both be normally operational (e.g., ina same switch). Also for example, one or more Fixed APs may be placed inthe network at various locations in an inactive or monitoring mode, andready to become operational when needed (e.g., in response to a fault,in response to an emergency services need, in response to a data surge,etc.).

Referring back to FIG. 1, the example Fixed Hotspot Access Network isshown with a wireless communication link to a backbone provider (e.g.,to one or more Backbone Providers and/or Local InfrastructureProviders), to a Mobile Hotspot Access Network, to one or more End UserDevices, and to the Environment. Also, the example Fixed Hotspot AccessNetwork is shown with a wired communication link to one or more BackboneProviders, to the Mobile Hotspot Access Network, to one or more End UserDevices, and to the Environment. The Environment may comprise any of avariety of devices (e.g., in-vehicle networks, devices, and sensors;autonomous vehicle networks, devices, and sensors; maritime (orwatercraft) and port networks, devices, and sensors; generalcontrolled-space networks, devices, and sensors; residential networks,devices, and sensors; disaster recovery & emergency networks, devices,and sensors; military and aircraft networks, devices, and sensors; smartcity networks, devices, and sensors; event (or venue) networks, devices,and sensors; underwater and underground networks, devices, and sensors;agricultural networks, devices, and sensors; tunnel (auto, subway,train, etc.) networks, devices, and sensors; parking networks, devices,and sensors; security and surveillance networks, devices, and sensors;shipping equipment and container networks, devices, and sensors;environmental control or monitoring networks, devices, and sensors;municipal networks, devices, and sensors; waste management networks,devices, and sensors, road maintenance networks, devices, and sensors,traffic management networks, devices, and sensors; advertising networks,devices and sensors; etc.).

The example network 100 of FIG. 1 also comprises a Mobile Hotspot AccessNetwork. Various example characteristics of such a Mobile Hotspot AccessNetwork 300 are shown at FIG. 3. Note that various fixed networkcomponents (e.g., Fixed APs) are also illustrated. The example network300 may, for example, share any or all characteristics with the otherexample networks and/or network components 100, 200, 400, 500-570, and600 discussed herein.

The example network 300 comprises a wide variety of Mobile APs (orhotspots) that provide access to user devices, provide for sensor datacollection, provide multi-hop connectivity to other Mobile APs, etc. Forexample, the example network 300 comprises vehicles from differentfleets (e.g., aerial, terrestrial, underground, (under)water, etc.). Forexample, the example network 300 comprises one or more massdistribution/transportation fleets, one or more mass passengertransportation fleets, private/public shared-user fleets, privatevehicles, urban and municipal fleets, maintenance fleets, drones,watercraft (e.g., boats, ships, speedboats, tugboats, barges, etc.),emergency fleets (e.g., police, ambulance, firefighter, etc.), etc.

The example network 300, for example, shows vehicles from differentfleets directly connected and/or mesh connected, for example using sameor different communication technologies. The example network 300 alsoshows fleets simultaneously connected to different Fixed APs, which mayor may not belong to different respective local infrastructureproviders. As a fault-tolerance mechanism, the example network 300 mayfor example comprise the utilization of long-range wirelesscommunication network (e.g., cellular, 3G, 4G, LTE, etc.) in vehicles ifthe local network infrastructure is down or otherwise unavailable. Asame vehicle (e.g., Mobile AP or OBU) can simultaneously provide accessto multiple vehicles, devices, things, etc., for example using a samecommunication technology (e.g., shared channels and/or differentrespective channels thereof) and/or using a different respectivecommunication technology for each. Also for example, a same vehicle canprovide multiple accesses to another vehicle, device, thing, etc., forexample using a same communication technology (e.g., shared channelsand/or different respective channels thereof, and/or using a differentcommunication technology).

Additionally, multiple network elements may be connected together toprovide for fault-tolerance or fail recovery, increased throughput, orto achieve any or a variety of a client's networking needs, many ofexamples of which are provided herein. For example, two Mobile APs (orOBUs) may be installed in a same vehicle, etc.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the example Mobile Hotspot Access Network isshown with a wireless communication link to a backbone provider (e.g.,to one or more Backbone Providers and/or Local InfrastructureProviders), to a Fixed Hotspot Access Network, to one or more End UserDevice, and to the Environment (e.g., to any one of more of the sensorsor systems discussed herein, any other device or machine, etc.). Thoughthe Mobile Hotspot Access Network is not shown having a wired link tothe various other components, there may (at least at times) be such awired link, at least temporarily.

The example network 100 of FIG. 1 also comprises a set of End-UserDevices. Various example end user devices are shown at FIG. 4. Note thatvarious other network components (e.g., Fixed Hotspot Access Networks,Mobile Hotspot Access Network(s), the Backbone/Core, etc.) are alsoillustrated. The example network 400 may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the other example networks and/or networkcomponents 100, 200, 300, 500-570, and 600, discussed herein.

The example network 400 shows various mobile networked devices. Suchnetwork devices may comprise end-user devices (e.g., smartphones,tablets, smartwatches, laptop computers, webcams, personal gamingdevices, personal navigation devices, personal media devices, personalcameras, health-monitoring devices, personal location devices,monitoring panels, printers, etc.). Such networked devices may alsocomprise any of a variety of devices operating in the generalenvironment, where such devices might not for example be associated witha particular user (e.g. any or all of the sensor devices discussedherein, vehicle sensors, municipal sensors, fleet sensors road sensors,environmental sensors, security sensors, traffic sensors, waste sensors,meteorological sensors, any of a variety of different types of municipalor enterprise equipment, etc.). Any of such networked devices can beflexibly connected to distinct backbone, fixed hotspot access networks,mobile hotspot access networks, etc., using the same or differentwired/wireless technologies.

A mobile device may, for example, operate as an AP to providesimultaneous access to multiple devices/things, which may then form adhoc networks, interconnecting devices ultimately connected to distinctbackbone networks, fixed hotspot, and/or mobile hotspot access networks.Devices (e.g., any or all of the devices or network nodes discussedherein) may, for example, have redundant technologies to access distinctbackbone, fixed hotspot, and/or mobile hotspot access networks, forexample for fault-tolerance and/or load-balancing purposes (e.g.,utilizing multiple SIM cards, etc.). A device may also, for example,simultaneously access distinct backbone, fixed hotspot access networks,and/or mobile hotspot access networks, belonging to the same provider orto different respective providers. Additionally for example, a devicecan provide multiple accesses to another device/thing (e.g., viadifferent channels, radios, etc.).

Referring back to FIG. 1, the example End-User Devices are shown with awireless communication link to a backbone provider (e.g., to one or moreBackbone Providers and/or Local Infrastructure Providers), to a FixedHotspot Access Network, to a Mobile Hotspot Access Network, and to theEnvironment. Also for example, the example End-User Devices are shownwith a wired communication link to a backbone provider, to a FixedHotspot Access Network, to a Mobile Hotspot Access Network, and to theEnvironment.

The example network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 has a flexiblearchitecture that is adaptable at implementation time (e.g., fordifferent use cases) and/or adaptable in real-time, for example asnetwork components enter and leave service. FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate suchflexibility by providing example modes (or configurations). The examplenetworks 500-570 may, for example, share any or all characteristics withthe other example networks and/or network components 100, 200, 300, 400,and 600, discussed herein. For example and without limitation, any orall of the communication links (e.g., wired links, wireless links, etc.)shown in the example networks 500-570 are generally analogous tosimilarly positioned communication links shown in the example network100 of FIG. 1.

For example, various aspects of this disclosure provide communicationnetwork architectures, systems, and methods for supporting a dynamicallyconfigurable communication network comprising a complex array of bothstatic and moving communication nodes (e.g., the Internet of movingthings). For example, a communication network implemented in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure may operate in one of aplurality of modalities comprising various fixed nodes, mobile nodes,and/or a combination thereof, which are selectable to yield any of avariety of system goals (e.g., increased throughput, reduced latency andpacket loss, increased availability and robustness of the system, extraredundancy, increased responsiveness, increased security in thetransmission of data and/or control packets, reduced number ofconfiguration changes by incorporating smart thresholds (e.g., change oftechnology, change of certificate, change of IP, etc.), providingconnectivity in dead zones or zones with difficult access, reducing thecosts for maintenance and accessing the equipment forupdating/upgrading, etc.). At least some of such modalities may, forexample, be entirely comprised of fixed-position nodes, at leasttemporarily if not permanently.

For illustrative simplicity, many of the example aspects shown in theexample system or network 100 of FIG. 1 (and other Figures herein) areomitted from FIGS. 5A-5C, but may be present. For example, the Cloud,Internet, and ISP aspects shown in FIG. 1 and in other Figures are notexplicitly shown in FIGS. 5A-5C, but may be present in any of theexample configurations (e.g., as part of the backbone provider networkor coupled thereto, as part of the local infrastructure provider networkor coupled thereto, etc.).

For example, the first example mode 500 is presented as a normalexecution mode, for example a mode (or configuration) in which all ofthe components discussed herein are present. For example, thecommunication system in the first example mode 500 comprises a backboneprovider network, a local infrastructure provider network, a fixedhotspot access network, a mobile hotspot access network, end-userdevices, and environment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the first example mode 500 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the localinfrastructure provider network (or any component thereof), fixedhotspot access network (or any component thereof), the end-user devices,and/or environment devices via a wired link. Note that such a wiredcoupling may be temporary. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also, at leasttemporarily, be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork (or any component thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered)links.

Also shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the first example mode 500 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Also note that in various example configurations,the backbone provider network may also be communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network via one or more wireless (ornon-tethered) links.

Though not shown in the first example mode 500 (or any of the examplemodes of FIGS. 5A-5C), one or more servers may be communicativelycoupled to the backbone provider network and/or the local infrastructurenetwork. FIG. 1 provides an example of cloud servers beingcommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network via theInternet.

As additionally shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, thelocal infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled toany or all of the other elements present in the first example mode 500(or configuration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. Forexample, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), fixed hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wired links. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary. Alsonote that in various example configurations, the local infrastructureprovider network may also, at least temporarily, be communicativelycoupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof)via one or more wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the first example mode 500 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), the fixed hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof),the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or morewireless links. Note that the communication link shown in the firstexample mode 500 of FIG. 5A between the local infrastructure providernetwork and the fixed hotspot access network may be wired and/orwireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the first example mode500 to be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network,the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein. Additionally, the mobile hotspot access network is further shownin the first example mode 500 to be communicatively coupled to theend-user devices and/or environment devices via one or more wirelesslinks. Many examples of such wireless coupling are provided herein.Further, the end-user devices are also shown in the first example mode500 to be communicatively coupled to the environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling areprovided herein. Note that in various example implementations any ofsuch wireless links may instead (or in addition) comprise a wired (ortethered) link.

In the first example mode 500 (e.g., the normal mode), information (ordata) may be communicated between an end-user device and a server (e.g.,a computer system) via the mobile hotspot access network, the fixedhotspot access network, the local infrastructure provider network,and/or the backbone provider network. As will be seen in the variousexample modes presented herein, such communication may flexibly occurbetween an end-user device and a server via any of a variety ofdifferent communication pathways, for example depending on theavailability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. Forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the fixed hotspot access network, thelocal infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network). Also forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the backbone provider network (e.g.,skipping the mobile hotspot access network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, and/or local infrastructure provider network).

Similarly, in the first example mode 500 (e.g., the normal mode),information (or data) may be communicated between an environment deviceand a server via the mobile hotspot access network, the fixed hotspotaccess network, the local infrastructure provider network, and/or thebackbone provider network. Also for example, an environment device maycommunicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., instead of or inaddition to the mobile hotspot access network). As will be seen in thevarious example modes presented herein, such communication may flexiblyoccur between an environment device and a server (e.g., communicativelycoupled to the local infrastructure provider network and/or backboneprovider network) via any of a variety of different communicationpathways, for example depending on the availability of a network,depending on bandwidth utilization goals, depending on communicationpriority, depending on communication time (or latency) and/orreliability constraints, depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the fixed hotspot access network, thelocal infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network). Also forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the backbone provider network (e.g.,skipping the mobile hotspot access network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, and/or local infrastructure provider network). Additionally forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network and/or fixed hotspotaccess network).

As discussed herein, the example networks presented herein areadaptively configurable to operate in any of a variety of differentmodes (or configurations). Such adaptive configuration may occur atinitial installation and/or during subsequent controlled networkevolution (e.g., adding or removing any or all of the network componentsdiscussed herein, expanding or removing network capacity, adding orremoving coverage areas, adding or removing services, etc.). Suchadaptive configuration may also occur in real-time, for example inresponse to real-time changes in network conditions (e.g., networks orcomponents thereof being available or not based on vehicle oruser-device movement, network or component failure, network or componentreplacement or augmentation activity, network overloading, etc.). Thefollowing example modes are presented to illustrate characteristics ofvarious modes in which a communication system may operate in accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure. The following examplemodes will generally be discussed in relation to the first example mode500 (e.g., the normal execution mode). Note that such example modes aremerely illustrative and not limiting.

The second example mode (or configuration) 510 (e.g., a no backboneavailable mode) may, for example, share any or all characteristics withthe first example mode 500, albeit without the backbone provider networkand communication links therewith. For example, the communication systemin the second example mode 510 comprises a local infrastructure providernetwork, a fixed hotspot access network, a mobile hotspot accessnetwork, end-user devices, and environment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the localinfrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled to any orall of the other elements present in the second example mode 510 (orconfiguration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. For example,the local infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupledto the fixed hotspot access network (or any component thereof), theend-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or more wiredlinks. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary. Also note thatin various example configurations, the local infrastructure providernetwork may also, at least temporarily, be communicatively coupled tothe mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof) via one ormore wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the second example mode 510 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Note that the communication link(s) shown in thesecond example mode 510 of FIG. 5A between the local infrastructureprovider network and the fixed hotspot access network may be wiredand/or wireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the second examplemode 510 to be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork, the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling areprovided herein. Additionally, the mobile hotspot access network isfurther shown in the second example mode 510 to be communicativelycoupled to the end-user devices and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling areprovided herein. Further, the end-user devices are also shown in thesecond example mode 510 to be communicatively coupled to the environmentdevices via one or more wireless links. Many examples of such wirelesscoupling are provided herein. Note that in various exampleimplementations any of such wireless links may instead (or in addition)comprise a wired (or tethered) link.

In the second example mode 510 (e.g., the no backbone available mode),information (or data) may be communicated between an end-user device anda server (e.g., a computer, etc.) via the mobile hotspot access network,the fixed hotspot access network, and/or the local infrastructureprovider network. As will be seen in the various example modes presentedherein, such communication may flexibly occur between an end-user deviceand a server via any of a variety of different communication pathways,for example depending on the availability of a network, depending onbandwidth utilization goals, depending on communication priority,depending on communication time (or latency) and/or reliabilityconstraints, depending on cost, etc. For example, informationcommunicated between an end user device and a server may be communicatedvia the fixed hotspot access network and/or the local infrastructureprovider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network).Also for example, information communicated between an end user deviceand a server may be communicated via the local infrastructure providernetwork (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network and/or fixedhotspot access network).

Similarly, in the second example mode 510 (e.g., the no backboneavailable mode), information (or data) may be communicated between anenvironment device and a server via the mobile hotspot access network,the fixed hotspot access network, and/or the local infrastructureprovider network. Also for example, an environment device maycommunicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., instead of or inaddition to the mobile hotspot access network). As will be seen in thevarious example modes presented herein, such communication may flexiblyoccur between an environment device and a server (e.g., communicativelycoupled to the local infrastructure provider network) via any of avariety of different communication pathways, for example depending onthe availability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the fixed hotspot access network and/orthe local infrastructure provider network (e.g., skipping the mobilehotspot access network). Also for example, information communicatedbetween an environment device and a server may be communicated via thelocal infrastructure provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspotaccess network and/or fixed hotspot access network).

The second example mode 510 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. Forexample, due to security and/or privacy goals, the second example mode510 may be utilized so that communication access to the public Cloudsystems, the Internet in general, etc., is not allowed. For example, allnetwork control and management functions may be within the localinfrastructure provider network (e.g., wired local network, etc.) and/orthe fixed access point network.

In an example implementation, the communication system might be totallyowned, operated and/or controlled by a local port authority. No extraexpenses associated with cellular connections need be spent. Forexample, cellular connection capability (e.g., in Mobile APs, Fixed APs,end user devices, environment devices, etc.) need not be provided. Notealso that the second example mode 510 may be utilized in a scenario inwhich the backbone provider network is normally available but iscurrently unavailable (e.g., due to server failure, due to communicationlink failure, due to power outage, due to a temporary denial of service,etc.).

The third example mode (or configuration) 520 (e.g., a no localinfrastructure and fixed hotspots available mode) may, for example,share any or all characteristics with the first example mode 500, albeitwithout the local infrastructure provider network, the fixed hotspotaccess network, and communication links therewith. For example, thecommunication system in the third example mode 520 comprises a backboneprovider network, a mobile hotspot access network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the third example mode 520 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the end-user devicesand/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Note that such awired coupling may be temporary. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also, at leasttemporarily, be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork (or any component thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered)links.

Also shown in FIG. 5A, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the third example mode 520 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links.

The mobile hotspot access network is further shown in the third examplemode 520 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Further, the end-userdevices are also shown in the third example mode 520 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein. Note that in various example implementations any of suchwireless links may instead (or in addition) comprise a wired (ortethered) link.

In the third example mode 520 (e.g., the no local infrastructure andfixed hotspots available mode), information (or data) may becommunicated between an end-user device and a server (e.g., a computer,etc.) via the mobile hotspot access network and/or the backbone providernetwork. As will be seen in the various example modes presented herein,such communication may flexibly occur between an end-user device and aserver via any of a variety of different communication pathways, forexample depending on the availability of a network, depending onbandwidth utilization goals, depending on communication priority,depending on communication time (or latency) and/or reliabilityconstraints, depending on cost, etc. For example, informationcommunicated between an end user device and a server may be communicatedvia the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspotaccess network).

Similarly, in the third example mode 520 (e.g., the no localinfrastructure and fixed hotspots available mode), information (or data)may be communicated between an environment device and a server via themobile hotspot access network and/or the backbone provider network. Alsofor example, an environment device may communicate with or through anend-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to the mobile hotspotaccess network). As will be seen in the various example modes presentedherein, such communication may flexibly occur between an environmentdevice and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to the backboneprovider network) via any of a variety of different communicationpathways, for example depending on the availability of a network,depending on bandwidth utilization goals, depending on communicationpriority, depending on communication time (or latency) and/orreliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. For example,information communicated between an environment device and a server maybe communicated via the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping themobile hotspot access network).

In the third example mode 520, all control/management functions may forexample be implemented within the Cloud. For example, since the mobilehotspot access network does not have a communication link via a fixedhotspot access network, the Mobile APs may utilize a direct connection(e.g., a cellular connection) with the backbone provider network (orCloud). If a Mobile AP does not have such capability, the Mobile AP mayalso, for example, utilize data access provided by the end-user devicescommunicatively coupled thereto (e.g., leveraging the data plans of theend-user devices).

The third example mode 520 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, the third example mode 520 may be utilized in anearly stage of a larger deployment, for example deployment that willgrow into another mode (e.g., the example first mode 500, example fourthmode 530, etc.) as more communication system equipment is installed.Note also that the third example mode 520 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the local infrastructure provider network and fixed hotspotaccess network are normally available but are currently unavailable(e.g., due to equipment failure, due to communication link failure, dueto power outage, due to a temporary denial of service, etc.).

The fourth example mode (or configuration) 530 (e.g., a no fixedhotspots available mode) may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the first example mode 500, albeit without thefixed hotspot access network and communication links therewith. Forexample, the communication system in the fourth example mode 530comprises a backbone provider network, a local infrastructure providernetwork, a mobile hotspot access network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fourth example mode 530 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the localinfrastructure provider network (or any component thereof), the end-userdevices, and/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Notethat such a wired coupling may be temporary. Also note that in variousexample configurations, the backbone provider network may also, at leasttemporarily, be communicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot accessnetwork (or any component thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered)links.

Also shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the fourth example mode 530 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also becommunicatively coupled to the local infrastructure provider network viaone or more wireless (or non-tethered) links.

As additionally shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, thelocal infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled toany or all of the other elements present in the fourth example mode 530(or configuration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. Forexample, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wired links. Note that such a wired coupling may betemporary. Also note that in various example configurations, the localinfrastructure provider network may also, at least temporarily, becommunicatively coupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof) via one or more wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fourth example mode 530 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), the mobile hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wireless links.

The mobile hotspot access network is further shown in the fourth examplemode 530 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Further, the end-userdevices are also shown in the fourth example mode 530 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the fourth example mode 530 (e.g., the no fixed hotspots mode),information (or data) may be communicated between an end-user device anda server via the mobile hotspot access network, the local infrastructureprovider network, and/or the backbone provider network. As will be seenin the various example modes presented herein, such communication mayflexibly occur between an end-user device and a server via any of avariety of different communication pathways, for example depending onthe availability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. Forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider networkand/or the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspotaccess network). Also for example, information communicated between anend user device and a server may be communicated via the backboneprovider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access networkand/or local infrastructure provider network).

Similarly, in the fourth example mode 530 (e.g., the no fixed hotspotsavailable mode), information (or data) may be communicated between anenvironment device and a server via the mobile hotspot access network,the local infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork. Also for example, an environment device may communicate with orthrough an end-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to themobile hotspot access network). As will be seen in the various examplemodes presented herein, such communication may flexibly occur between anenvironment device and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network and/or backbone provider network)via any of a variety of different communication pathways, for exampledepending on the availability of a network, depending on bandwidthutilization goals, depending on communication priority, depending oncommunication time (or latency) and/or reliability constraints,depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the local infrastructure providernetwork and/or the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobilehotspot access network). Also for example, information communicatedbetween an environment device and a server may be communicated via thebackbone provider network (e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot accessnetwork and/or local infrastructure provider network). Additionally forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the mobile hotspot access network and/or backboneprovider network).

In the fourth example mode 530, in an example implementation, some ofthe control/management functions may for example be implemented withinthe local backbone provider network (e.g., within a client premises).For example, communication to the local infrastructure provider may beperformed through the backbone provider network (or Cloud). Note that ina scenario in which there is a direct communication pathway between thelocal infrastructure provider network and the mobile hotspot accessnetwork, such communication pathway may be utilized.

For example, since the mobile hotspot access network does not have acommunication link via a fixed hotspot access network, the Mobile APsmay utilize a direct connection (e.g., a cellular connection) with thebackbone provider network (or Cloud). If a Mobile AP does not have suchcapability, the Mobile AP may also, for example, utilize data accessprovided by the end-user devices communicatively coupled thereto (e.g.,leveraging the data plans of the end-user devices).

The fourth example mode 530 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, the fourth example mode 530 may be utilized inan early stage of a larger deployment, for example a deployment thatwill grow into another mode (e.g., the example first mode 500, etc.) asmore communication system equipment is installed. The fourth examplemode 530 may, for example, be utilized in a scenario in which there isno fiber (or other) connection available for Fixed APs (e.g., in amaritime scenario, in a plantation scenario, etc.), or in which a FixedAP is difficult to access or connect. For example, one or more MobileAPs of the mobile hotspot access network may be used as gateways toreach the Cloud. The fourth example mode 530 may also, for example, beutilized when a vehicle fleet and/or the Mobile APs associated therewithare owned by a first entity and the Fixed APs are owned by anotherentity, and there is no present agreement for communication between theMobile APs and the Fixed APs. Note also that the fourth example mode 530may be utilized in a scenario in which the fixed hotspot access networkis normally available but are currently unavailable (e.g., due toequipment failure, due to communication link failure, due to poweroutage, due to a temporary denial of service, etc.).

The fifth example mode (or configuration) 540 (e.g., a no mobilehotspots available mode) may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the first example mode 500, albeit without themobile hotspot access network and communication links therewith. Forexample, the communication system in the fifth example mode 540comprises a backbone provider network, a local infrastructure providernetwork, a fixed hotspot access network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fifth example mode 540 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the localinfrastructure provider network (or any component thereof), fixedhotspot access network (or any component thereof), the end-user devices,and/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Note that such awired coupling may be temporary.

Also shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the fifth example mode 540 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links. Also note that in various exampleconfigurations, the backbone provider network may also becommunicatively coupled to the local infrastructure provider network viaone or more wireless (or non-tethered) links.

As additionally shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, thelocal infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled toany or all of the other elements present in the fifth example mode 540(or configuration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. Forexample, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network (or anycomponent thereof), fixed hotspot access network (or any componentthereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices via one ormore wired links. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary. Alsonote that in various example configurations, the local infrastructureprovider network may also, at least temporarily, be communicativelycoupled to the mobile hotspot access network (or any component thereof)via one or more wired (or tethered) links.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the fifth example mode 540 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the backbone provider network, the fixedhotspot access network (or any component thereof), the end-user devices,and/or environment devices via one or more wireless links. Note that thecommunication link(s) shown in the fifth example mode 540 of FIG. 5Bbetween the local infrastructure provider network and the fixed hotspotaccess network may be wired and/or wireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the fifth example mode540 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Further, the end-userdevices are also shown in the fifth example mode 540 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the fifth example mode 540 (e.g., the no mobile hotspots availablemode), information (or data) may be communicated between an end-userdevice and a server via the fixed hotspot access network, the localinfrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone provider network.As will be seen in the various example modes presented herein, suchcommunication may flexibly occur between an end-user device and a servervia any of a variety of different communication pathways, for exampledepending on the availability of a network, depending on bandwidthutilization goals, depending on communication priority, depending oncommunication time (or latency) and/or reliability constraints,depending on cost, etc. For example, information communicated between anend user device and a server may be communicated via the localinfrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone provider network(e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot access network). Also for example,information communicated between an end user device and a server may becommunicated via the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the fixedhotspot access network and/or local infrastructure provider network).

Similarly, in the fifth example mode 540 (e.g., the no mobile hotspotsavailable mode), information (or data) may be communicated between anenvironment device and a server via the fixed hotspot access network,the local infrastructure provider network, and/or the backbone providernetwork. Also for example, an environment device may communicate with orthrough an end-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to the fixedhotspot access network). As will be seen in the various example modespresented herein, such communication may flexibly occur between anenvironment device and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network and/or backbone provider network)via any of a variety of different communication pathways, for exampledepending on the availability of a network, depending on bandwidthutilization goals, depending on communication priority, depending oncommunication time (or latency) and/or reliability constraints,depending on cost, etc.

For example, information communicated between an environment device anda server may be communicated via the local infrastructure providernetwork and/or the backbone provider network (e.g., skipping the fixedhotspot access network). Also for example, information communicatedbetween an environment device and a server may be communicated via thebackbone provider network (e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot accessnetwork and/or local infrastructure provider network). Additionally forexample, information communicated between an environment device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot access network and/or the backboneprovider network).

In the fifth example mode 540, in an example implementation, theend-user devices and environment devices may communicate directly toFixed APs (e.g., utilizing Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.). Also for example, theend-user devices and/or environment devices may communicate directlywith the backbone provider network (e.g., utilizing cellularconnections, etc.).

The fifth example mode 540 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation in which end-user devices and/or environmentdevices may communicate directly with Fixed APs, such communication maybe utilized instead of Mobile AP communication. For example, the fixedhotspot access network might provide coverage for all desired areas.

Note also that the fifth example mode 540 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the fixed hotspot access network is normally available but iscurrently unavailable (e.g., due to equipment failure, due tocommunication link failure, due to power outage, due to a temporarydenial of service, etc.).

The sixth example mode (or configuration) 550 (e.g., the no fixed/mobilehotspots and local infrastructure available mode) may, for example,share any or all characteristics with the first example mode 500, albeitwithout the local infrastructure provider network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, mobile hotspot access network, and communication linkstherewith. For example, the communication system in the sixth examplemode 550 comprises a backbone provider network, end-user devices, andenvironment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backbone providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the sixth example mode 550 (or configuration) viaone or more wired (or tethered) links. For example, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to the end-user devicesand/or environment devices via one or more wired links. Note that such awired coupling may be temporary.

Also shown in FIG. 5B, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the backboneprovider network may be communicatively coupled to any or all of theother elements present in the sixth example mode 550 (or configuration)via one or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered opticallink, etc.). For example, the backbone provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/or environmentdevices via one or more wireless links.

The end-user devices are also shown in the sixth example mode 550 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the sixth example mode 550 (e.g., the no fixed/mobile hotspots andlocal infrastructure available mode), information (or data) may becommunicated between an end-user device and a server via the backboneprovider network. Similarly, in the sixth example mode 550 (e.g., the nofixed/mobile hotspots and local infrastructure mode), information (ordata) may be communicated between an environment device and a server viathe backbone provider network. Also for example, an environment devicemay communicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., instead of orin addition to the mobile hotspot access network).

The sixth example mode 550 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, for example in which an end-user has not yetsubscribed to the communication system, the end-user device maysubscribe to the system through a Cloud application and by communicatingdirectly with the backbone provider network (e.g., via cellular link,etc.). The sixth example mode 550 may also, for example, be utilized inrural areas in which Mobile AP presence is sparse, Fixed AP installationis difficult or impractical, etc.

Note also that the sixth example mode 550 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the infrastructure provider network, fixed hotspot accessnetwork, and/or mobile hotspot access network are normally available butare currently unavailable (e.g., due to equipment failure, due tocommunication link failure, due to power outage, due to a temporarydenial of service, etc.).

The seventh example mode (or configuration) 560 (e.g., the no backboneand mobile hotspots available mode) may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the first example mode 500, albeit without thebackbone provider network, mobile hotspot access network, andcommunication links therewith. For example, the communication system inthe seventh example mode 560 comprises a local infrastructure providernetwork, fixed hotspot access network, end-user devices, and environmentdevices.

As shown in FIG. 5C, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the localinfrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupled to any orall of the other elements present in the seventh example mode 560 (orconfiguration) via one or more wired (or tethered) links. For example,the local infrastructure provider network may be communicatively coupledto the fixed hotspot access network (or any component thereof), theend-user devices, and/or environment devices via one or more wiredlinks. Note that such a wired coupling may be temporary.

Also, though not explicitly shown, the local infrastructure providernetwork may be communicatively coupled to any or all of the otherelements present in the seventh example mode 560 (or configuration) viaone or more wireless links (e.g., RF link, non-tethered optical link,etc.). For example, the local infrastructure provider network may becommunicatively coupled to the fixed hotspot access network (or anycomponent thereof), the end-user devices, and/or environment devices viaone or more wireless links. Note that the communication link shown inthe seventh example mode 560 of FIG. 5C between the local infrastructureprovider network and the fixed hotspot access network may be wiredand/or wireless.

The fixed hotspot access network is also shown in the seventh examplemode 560 to be communicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/orenvironment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein. Additionally, the end-userdevices are also shown in the seventh example mode 560 to becommunicatively coupled to the environment devices via one or morewireless links. Many examples of such wireless coupling are providedherein.

In the seventh example mode 560 (e.g., the no backbone and mobilehotspots available mode), information (or data) may be communicatedbetween an end-user device and a server via the fixed hotspot accessnetwork and/or the local infrastructure provider network. As will beseen in the various example modes presented herein, such communicationmay flexibly occur between an end-user device and a server via any of avariety of different communication pathways, for example depending onthe availability of a network, depending on bandwidth utilization goals,depending on communication priority, depending on communication time (orlatency) and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. Forexample, information communicated between an end user device and aserver may be communicated via the local infrastructure provider network(e.g., skipping the fixed hotspot access network).

Similarly, in the seventh example mode 560 (e.g., the no backbone andmobile hotspots available mode), information (or data) may becommunicated between an environment device and a server via the fixedhotspot access network and/or the local infrastructure provider network.Also for example, an environment device may communicate with or throughan end-user device (e.g., instead of or in addition to the mobilehotspot access network). As will be seen in the various example modespresented herein, such communication may flexibly occur between anenvironment device and a server (e.g., communicatively coupled to thelocal infrastructure provider network) via any of a variety of differentcommunication pathways, for example depending on the availability of anetwork, depending on bandwidth utilization goals, depending oncommunication priority, depending on communication time (or latency)and/or reliability constraints, depending on cost, etc. For example,information communicated between an environment device and a server maybe communicated via the local infrastructure provider network (e.g.,skipping the fixed hotspot access network).

The seventh example mode 560 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample controlled space implementation, Cloud access might not beprovided (e.g., for security reasons, privacy reasons, etc.), and full(or sufficient) coverage of the coverage area is provided by the fixedhotspot access network, and thus the mobile hotspot access network isnot needed. For example, the end-user devices and environment devicesmay communicate directly (e.g., via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.) with theFixed APs

Note also that the seventh example mode 560 may be utilized in ascenario in which the backbone provider network and/or fixed hotspotaccess network are normally available but are currently unavailable(e.g., due to equipment failure, due to communication link failure, dueto power outage, due to a temporary denial of service, etc.).

The eighth example mode (or configuration) 570 (e.g., the no backbone,fixed hotspots, and local infrastructure available mode) may, forexample, share any or all characteristics with the first example mode500, albeit without the backbone provider network, local infrastructureprovider network, fixed hotspot access network, and communication linkstherewith. For example, the communication system in the eighth examplemode 570 comprises a mobile hotspot access network, end-user devices,and environment devices.

As shown in FIG. 5C, and in FIG. 1 in more detail, the mobile hotspotaccess network is shown in the eighth example mode 570 to becommunicatively coupled to the end-user devices and/or environmentdevices via one or more wireless links. Many examples of such wirelesscoupling are provided herein. Further, the end-user devices are alsoshown in the eighth example mode 570 to be communicatively coupled tothe environment devices via one or more wireless links. Many examples ofsuch wireless coupling are provided herein.

In the eighth example mode 570 (e.g., the no backbone, fixed hotspots,and local infrastructure available mode), information (or data) mightnot (at least currently) be communicated between an end-user device anda server (e.g., a coupled to the backbone provider network, localinfrastructure provider network, etc.). Similarly, information (or data)might not (at least currently) be communicated between an environmentdevice and a server (e.g., a coupled to the backbone provider network,local infrastructure provider network, etc.). Note that the environmentdevice may communicate with or through an end-user device (e.g., insteadof or in addition to the mobile hotspot access network).

The eighth example mode 570 may be utilized for any of a variety ofreasons, non-limiting examples of which are provided herein. In anexample implementation, the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized forgathering and/or serving data (e.g., in a delay-tolerant networkingscenario), providing peer-to-peer communication through the mobilehotspot access network (e.g., between clients of a single Mobile AP,between clients of respective different Mobile APs, etc.), etc. Inanother example scenario, the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized ina scenario in which vehicle-to-vehicle communications are prioritizedabove vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. In yet another examplescenario, the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized in a scenario inwhich all infrastructure access is lost (e.g., in tunnels, parkinggarages, etc.).

Note also that the eighth example mode 570 may be utilized in a scenarioin which the backbone provider network, local infrastructure providernetwork, and/or fixed hotspot access network are normally available butare currently unavailable (e.g., due to equipment failure, due tocommunication link failure, due to power outage, due to a temporarydenial of service, etc.).

As shown and discussed herein, it is beneficial to have a genericplatform that allows multi-mode communications of multiple users ormachines within different environments, using multiple devices withmultiple technologies, connected to multiple moving/static things withmultiple technologies, forming wireless (mesh) hotspot networks overdifferent environments, connected to multiple wired/wirelessinfrastructure/network backbone providers, ultimately connected to theInternet, Cloud or private network infrastructure.

FIG. 6 shows yet another block diagram of an example networkconfiguration, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. The example network 600 may, for example, share any or allcharacteristics with the other example networks and/or networkcomponents 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500-570, discussed herein. Notably,the example network 600 shows a plurality of Mobile APs (or OBUs), eachcommunicatively coupled to a Fixed AP (or RSU), where each Mobile AP mayprovide network access to a vehicle network (e.g., comprising othervehicles or vehicle networks, user devices, sensor devices, etc.).

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, systemsand methods are provided that manage a vehicle communication network,for example in accordance with the location of nodes and end devices, ina way that provides for stable TCP/IP Internet access, among otherthings. For example, an end user may be provided with a clean and stableWi-Fi Internet connection that may appear to the end user to be the sameas the Wi-Fi Internet connection at the user's home, user's workplace,fixed public Wi-Fi hotspots, etc. For example, for a user utilizing acommunication network as described herein, a TCP session may stayactive, downloads may process normally, calls may proceed withoutinterruption, etc. As discussed herein, a vehicle communication networkin accordance with various aspects of this disclosure may be applied asa transport layer for regular Internet traffic and/or for privatenetwork traffic (e.g., extending the access of customer private LANsfrom the wired network to vehicles and users around them, etc.).

In accordance with an example network implementation, although a usermight be always connected to a single Wi-Fi AP of a vehicle, the vehicle(or the access point thereof, for example an OBU) is moving betweenmultiple access points (e.g., Fixed APs, other Mobile APs, cellular basestations, fixed Wi-Fi hotspots, etc.). For example, mobility managementimplemented in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosuresupports the mobility of each vehicle and its users across differentcommunication technologies (e.g., 802.11p, cellular, Wi-Fi, etc.) as theMobile APs migrate among Fixed APs (and/or Mobile APs) and/or as usersmigrate between Mobile APs.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, a mobilitycontroller (MC), which may also be referred to as an LMA or NetworkController, may monitor the location (e.g., network location, etc.) ofvarious nodes (e.g., Mobile APs, etc.) and/or the location of end usersconnected through them. The mobility controller (MC) may, for example,provide seamless handovers (e.g., maintaining communication sessioncontinuity) between different access points and/or differenttechnologies with low link latency and low handover times.

The architecture provided herein is scalable, for example takingadvantage of redundant elements and/or functionality to provideload-balancing of control and/or data communication functionality, aswell as to decrease failure probability. Various aspects of the presentdisclosure also provide for decreased control signaling (e.g., in amountand/or frequency), which reduces the control overhead and reduces thesize of control tables and tunneling, for example both in backendservers and in APs (e.g., Fixed APs and/or Mobile APs).

Additionally, a communication network (or components thereof) inaccordance with various aspects of this disclosure may comprise theability to interact with mobile devices in order to control some or allof their connection choices and/or to leverage their controlfunctionality. For example, in an example implementation, a mobileapplication can run in the background, managing the available networksand/or nodes thereof and selecting the one that best fits, and thentriggering a handoff to the selected network (or node thereof) beforebreakdown of the current connection.

The communication network (or components thereof) is also configurable,according to the infrastructure requirements and/or mobility needs ofeach client, etc. For example, the communication network (or componentsthereof) may comprise the capability to support different Layer 2 (L2)or Layer 3 (L3) implementations, or combinations thereof, as well asIPv4/IPv6 traffic.

Aspect of this disclosure enable an internet of moving things in whichend-users are connected to the Internet all the time without noticingany disruptions in their service, despite mobility of the end-userdevices, despite the mobility of at least some of the access points(APs), and despite the very dynamic and dense environments that are tobe expected in such a network. Aspects of a network in accordance withthis disclosure may maintain a voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) call,a connection to a streaming video server, and other end-usercommunication sessions, even while the end-user device is moving insidethe network (e.g., changing from being connected via a fixed AP (FAP) ata bus stop, to a mobile AP (MAP) of a bus the end-user is boarding or,as a more extreme example, repeatedly switching from one mobile AP toanother as the mobile APs pass by the end-user standing on thesidewalk). Without such seamless mobility, the wireless connection ofthe end-user device will drop as s/he moves between two networks,resulting in the need to refresh webpages, restart file downloads,reconnect dropped VoIP calls, etc. Providing end-users this seamlessmobility means enabling seamless mobility of the mobile APs amongdifferent fixed APs and/or other backhaul technologies, and alsoseamless mobility of end-user devices among the mobile APs.

Managing seamless Wi-Fi mobility is a difficult task since the Wi-Fistandard (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/af) was not designed for dynamicscenarios. One solution to the issue of Wi-Fi mobility is to handle itat OSI layer 2 (L2), where all APs broadcast the same L2 domain. In suchan implementation, all mobility may be based in updates to what iscommonly referred to as an “address resolution protocol table”(ARPtable) data structure, which are relatively fast. However, extendingL2 domains over Wi-Fi links with a high number of end-users may providean unacceptable end-user experience (e.g., Quality of Experience (QoE)).However by sharing the same L2 domain, all broadcast traffic on one APmay be automatically replicated to all the other APs, a conditioncommonly referred to as a “broadcast storm.”. The occurrence of thiscondition may have big impacts on quality of service (QoS). Accordingly,various aspects of this disclosure provide methods and systems forhandling mobility at OSI layer 3, thereby avoiding the problems thatarise with the use of L2, and insuring better QoE/QoS for the end-users.

Aspects of this disclosure provide methods and systems for managing IPaddress mobility such that, even as mobility controllers (MCs—alsoreferred to herein as network controllers (NCs)) manage the handover ofuser devices among themselves, the wireless connections of end-userdevices are not dropped. The methods and systems described in thisdisclosure handle IP address mobility for end-user devices as theyswitching between MAPs belonging to the same NC as well as between MAPsbelonging to different NCs.

As described herein, and in the provisional patent applications that area part of the present disclosure by incorporation, a network of movingthings may comprise one or more network controllers (NCs), one or morefixed access points (FAPs), one or more mobile access points (MAPs), andone or more end-user devices (e.g., wireless-enabled smartphones,tablets, laptops, personal computers, cameras, etc.).

It should be noted that although the following discussion refer to theuse of Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/af) wireless connections withend-user devices and backhaul from the access points (FAPs and MAPs),other communication technologies may be used as well in a manner inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the functional elements of anexample network controller (NC) 710, in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure. An NC such as the NC 710 of FIG. 7 may beresponsible for managing both MAP location and end-user device locationwithin the network. A network controller in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure manages the location of elements ofthe network of moving things (e.g., mobile elements such as MAPs andend-user devices) so that when the NC receives data traffic from theanother network (e.g., the Internet) that is destined for an element ofthe network of the present disclosure (i.e., a MAP/OBU and/or end-userdevice of the network of moving things), the NC uses the location withinthe network where this MAP/OBU and/or end-user device is currentlyconnected (which may, for example, be considered an analogy to itsactual geographic location), so that the information packets may beforwarded through the network to destination network element. Forexample, assuming a situation in which a device of a User A is currentlyconnected to a MAP B that is communicating with a NC D via a FAP C, theNC D, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, may forwardreceived packet traffic destined for User A through FAP C to MAP B, andfrom there on to the device of User A. Each NC of a network of movingthings in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure may trackthe locations of a set of MAPs/OBUs and end-user devices assigned to theNC, using methods and systems described herein and in theabove-incorporated provisional applications.

As depicted in FIG. 7, the NC 710 comprises a MAP location interface(I/F) module 712 that communicates with one or more MAPs (e.g., MAP740), each of which may wirelessly communicate with one or more end-userdevices (e.g., end-user device 730). The MAP location I/F module 712 mayperiodically communicate with each of the MAPs assigned to the MAPlocation I/F module 712, to keep track of the movement of the MAPs. Inaddition, the NC 710 comprises an end-user device location interface(I/F) module 714 that may be responsible for location-related messageprocessing for end-user devices (e.g., end-user device 730, such as asmartphone, tablet, laptop, camera, etc), and may communicate locationinformation to the other network controllers of the network of movingthings, shown in FIG. 7 as other NCs 715. The NC 710 may also comprise aMAP location module 716 that communicates with the MAP locationinterface (I/F) module 712. In accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure, the MAP location module 716 may act as a database thatstores information regarding the location of all MAPs assigned to the NC710. The NC 710 of FIG. 7 also comprises an end-user device IP addressassignment module 718 that may be responsible for managing one or morepools of IP addresses to be assigned to MAPs. The NC 710 may alsocomprises an end-user device location module 720 that may be responsiblefor keeping track of the current location of the end-user device withinthe entirety of the network of moving things. In accordance with aspectsof the present disclosure, each MAP (e.g., MAP 740) in a network ofmoving things may have one or more end-user devices wirelessly connectedto the MAP (e.g., end-user device 730), and such end-user devices mayswitch their wireless connection/association between two or more MAPs ofthe network, even when the two or more MAPs are not assigned to the sameNC (e.g., NC 710). The assignment of a MAP to an NC is discussed ingreater detail below.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram illustrating the functional elements of anexample mobile access point (MAP) 840, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. The MAP 840 of FIG. 8 may correspond,for example, to the MAP 730 of FIG. 7, or the MAPs described above withregard to FIGS. 1-6. As shown in FIG. 8, an example MAP 840 may comprisea MAP end-user device negotiation I/F module 841 that is responsible forperforming negotiation between MAPs such as, for example, the MAP 840and a neighboring MAP 844. The MAP 840 may also comprise a Wi-Fi I/Fmodule 843 that is responsible for managing wireless interactions of theMAP 840 with the currently active Wi-Fi networks. The MAP 840 of FIG. 8also comprises an end-user device location I/F module 845 that isresponsible for processing messages related to the location of one ormore end-user devices (e.g., end-user devices 830, 835). In addition,the MAP 840 may comprises a Wi-Fi network management module 847 that isresponsible for managing the Wi-Fi networks based on networkinformation. A Wi-Fi network management module according to the presentdisclosure (e.g., Wi-Fi network management module 847) may, among otherthings, manage the Wi-Fi network(s) provided to end-user device(s) by,in part, managing the number of Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs)broadcast by the MAP (e.g., MAP 840). For each SSID that the MAPbroadcasts, the Wi-Fi network management module of the MAP may, forexample, manage the type of authentication in use, the type of trafficforwarding in effect, one or more Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DHCP) address pools, the operation of a Domain Name System (DNS)server, and manage the operation of one or more gateways. For example,one MAP/OBU may have a first SSID A for a captive portal and acorresponding DHCP pool X, a second SSID B with radius authenticationand a corresponding DHCP pool Y, and a third SSID without a captiveportal or authentication and with a corresponding DHCP pool Z. A MAPsuch as the MAP 840 may also comprise an end-user device managementmodule 849 that provides local management of the end-user devicescurrently wirelessly connected to the MAP 840.

Aspects of this disclosure provide methods and systems for managingcurrent user device location in order to properly forward the trafficbetween the NCs and the MAPs to which the user device is connected.These methods and systems manage the tracking of the locations ofnetwork nodes, which is used for mobility management, as discussedabove. Aspects of the present disclosure may, for example, include themanagement of “logical” resources, including the allocation and/orassignment of IP addresses and the communicationroutes/encapsulations/tunnels/ports used to forward traffic through thenetwork, as described herein.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, when aparticular end-user device first connects wirelessly (e.g., via Wi-Fi)to a network such as the network of moving things described herein, theparticular end-user device may be considered, at that point in time, tobe “owned” by the NC of the MAP to which the particular end-user devicewirelessly connected (i.e., each MAP is managed by (“assigned to”) anNC, and the end-user device(s) served by the MAP(s) managed by an NC aresaid to be “owned” by that NC). In accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure, the NC that now “owns” the particular end-userdevice then assigns an IP address to that particular end-user device,and then informs all other NCs of the network of moving things of the IPaddress assigned to that particular end-user device. To maintain thewireless (e.g., Wi-Fi) connection as the end-user device moves betweenMAPs of the network, various aspects of this disclosure manage not onlythe movement of elements of the Wi-Fi network (e.g., MAPs), but also themobility of the IP address itself. In this manner, the exit point of thenetwork for the end-user device is always the same, even if the end-userdevice switches between MAPs assigned to different NCs. In accordancewith various aspects of the present disclosure, the exit IP address of anetwork as described herein is the IP address seen by a second network,to which the network of moving things as discussed herein (e.g., theInternet) is connected. For example, when an end-user device in anetwork as disclosed herein makes a request for information from aServer S of the Internet, the Server S receives a request from a sourcehaving a IP address X port A, which is a public IP address of the NC towhich the MAP/OBU serving the end-user device is assigned. The Server Sis therefore able to send to IP address X port A a reply to the requestthat was received from the IP address X port A. As long as the MAP/OBUserving the end-user device remains connected to the same NC, the ServerS will always see an exchange of information between the same twoendpoints, namely, the Server S itself and the public IP address X portA. This mechanism enables the device of the end-user served by theMAP/OBU to, for example, start and continue a download of informationfrom the Server S in spite of the MAP/OBU changing its point ofattachment within the network of moving things described herein, sincethe server providing the download to the MAP/OBU and end-user device(i.e., Server S) is always the same and therefore the connection is notbroken or restarted. Aspects of this disclosure also enable the networkto reconfigure itself in order to compensate for failure of a networkelement such as, for example, an AP (e.g., fixed or mobile AP) or an NC.

In a network of moving things according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure, each NC is responsible for a set of MAPs (e.g., upto 400 in some network instances, more than 400 in other networkinstances), where each particular MAP has a set of end-user devicesconnected to the particular MAP (e.g., in some example networks as manyas 50 end-user devices may be connected to a single MAP, in otherexample networks more than 50 end-user devices may be connected to asingle MAP). Accordingly, aspects of this disclosure provide anefficient way for the NC to manage the location of each MAP and eachend-user device of a network instance (e.g., with up to 400 MAPs per NCand 50 end-user devices per MAP, the number of end-user device in such asituation would total up to 20,000 end-user devices). Furthermore, sincean end-user device can move between MAPs of different NCs, aspects ofthis disclosure provide systems and methods for the NCs to coordinateamong themselves in order to correctly forward the traffic for anend-user device. For example, in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure, an NC that “owns” a given end-user device keeps track of thelocation of that end-user device even when that end-user device has beenhanded over to a MAP assigned to a different NC.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, eachend-user device may be assigned to a specific NC, and each MAP may beassigned to a specific NC. An end-user device may be handed over by afirst MAP assigned to a first NC, to a second MAP assigned to a secondNC. Accordingly, the NCs of a network of moving things as describedherein may be configured to communicate and coordinate among themselvesin order to avoid losing track of a given end-user device. Suchcommunication between NCs may include information such as, by way ofillustration and not limitation, a media access control (MAC) address ofthe end-user device, the IP address assigned to the end-user device, a“lease time” of the IP address assigned to an end-user device, and anauthentication status of the end-user device (e.g., if the end-userdevice has already been sent and authenticated via an authenticationscreen of a captive portal upon entering the network, it may beundesirable for the end-user device to be sent the authentication screenof the captive portal again upon being handed over to another AP). The“lease time” of the present disclosure may be used to enable automaticcleanup of “dead” or no longer valid IP address assignment information.For example, an end-user device of User A connected through a NC C maybe assigned an IP address having a lease time B. The NC C may share theIP address assigned to the end-user device of User A and thecorresponding lease time B, with one or more other networkcontroller(s), e.g., a NC D. In this way, all NCs of a network asdescribed herein have a way of detecting that an IP address assigned toa network element (e.g., the IP address assigned to the end-user deviceof User A) is still valid, by the sharing of the lease time of each IPaddress assignment with/by other NCs. If the end-user device of User Arenews the lease time of its assigned IP address with NC C, the networkcontroller NC C may then update the other NCs of a network (e.g., NC D,NC E, NC F, etc.) with the new lease time, according to the presentdisclosure. However, if the lease time of the IP address assigned to theend-user device of User A expires, all NCs of the network (each havingthe same lease time for the IP address assigned to the end-user deviceof User A) will detect the expiration and will clean their own storageof IP address assignment information for end-user device of User A,since it is no longer valid. In this way, NC C does not have to updateother NCs of the network (e.g., an NC D, NC E, NC F, etc.) when thelease time of an IP address assigned to a network element (e.g., anend-user device) expires and is “dead.” Instead, the network controllerNC D will automatically detect the expiration on its own, when the leasetime expires. By sharing such information between NCs, the NCs of anetwork according to the present disclosure may stay synchronized withone another, enabling the NCs to check for database consistency and toeven enable the replacement of a failed NC. In accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure, an NC may (e.g., if it hasexperienced some sort of glitch or failure and there is uncertainty asto its synchronization status) send a request to engage in a fullsynchronization to other NCs of the network, in which case the other NCsof the network will communicate with the requesting NC to make sure thatsome or all of the databases of the requesting NC are up-to-date. Inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure, such an NC may, forexample, send such a request for current IP address and correspondinglease time information to all of the other NCs of the network. Thoseother NCs may synchronize the information they have regarding thenetwork elements (e.g., devices of end-users) connected to the network,which may include information such as, by way of example and notlimitation, a media access control (MAC) address, an assigned IP addressassigned, a “lease time” of the assigned IP address, and authenticationstatus.

FIGS. 9 through 13 illustrate example backend control and management, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Such backendcontrol and management may include, for example, interactions andcooperation between infrastructure devices (e.g., the NCs). In FIG. 9,an end-user device 930 first connects (e.g., the term “associates” maybe used to refer to such a connection for a Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac/af) communication technology) to a mobile AP MAP4 940,which is assigned to a network controller NC2 915. When mobile AP MAP4940 receives the connection request (e.g., messaging indicating anend-user device attempt to associate or register) from the end-userdevice 930, the mobile AP MAP4 940 may then send one or more messages toits assigned network controller (i.e., to NC2 915), includinginformation about the end-user device 930. For example, the request fromend-user device 930 may be accompanied by an identifier (e.g., one ormore of a User ID, an identifier of the end-user device 930 such as amedia access control (MAC) address, and/or an identifier of a MAP/OBU),requesting assignment of a suitable IP address to the end-user device930. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the_User IDand MAP ID information sent to the NC may be unique within the network.As shown in the illustration of FIG. 9 (e.g., by double lines), thenetwork controller NC2 915 has access to the Internet.

FIG. 10 illustrates actions of a network controller NC2 1015 in responseto receipt of the request from an end-user device 1030, which maycorrespond to the NC2 930 and end-user device 940 of FIG. 9,respectively, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. At FIG. 10, the network controller NC2 1015 attempts toaccess information relating to the end-user device 1030 (e.g., using theUser ID associated with the end-user or end-user device 1030). In thepresent example, the end-user device 1030 is assumed to be new on thenetwork, so there is no such information accessible to the networkcontroller 1015. The network controller NC2 1015 therefore assigns tothe end-user device 1030, an IP address selected from a pool of IPaddresses available to the network controller NC2 1015, and links theselected IP address to the User ID of with end-user device 1030 inmemory of the network controller NC2 1015. Such a pool of IP addressesmay, for example, be indicated/assigned by configuration informationsent to all NCs in a network of moving things, or via informationreceived via request(s) sent by the NC2 1015 to another element of thenetwork (e.g., a Cloud-based system), according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure. The network controller NC2 1015 may then informthe mobile AP MAP4 1040 of the particular IP address that the NC2 1015has assigned to the identifier of the specific end-user device 1030, andthe mobile AP MAP4 1040 may then notify the end-user device 1030 of theparticular IP address to be used by the end-user device 1030. As shownin FIG. 10, the network controller NC2 1015 also notifies all other NCsof the network (e.g., in the example of FIG. 10, the network controllerNC1 1010) that the specific end-user device 1030 having the identifiedUser ID has been assigned the particular IP address and is now “owned”by network controller NC2 1015. The notification of the other NCs of thenetwork enables each of the other NCs to logically link in memory, theUser ID of the end-user device 1030, the IP address assigned to theend-user device 1030, and an identifier of the owning NC, NC2 1015 thatsent the notification. Additional information may also be sent to theother NCs of the network including, for example, what may be referred toherein as a “lease time,” which indicates a time/date of expiration ofthe association of the User ID and the IP address assigned to theend-user device 1030. In accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure, if the end-user device 1030 should later wirelessly connectto (e.g., associate with) a MAP belonging to an NC other than thenetwork controller NC2 1015 (e.g., the network controller NC1 1010), theother NC then has the information to enable the other NC to deliver datatraffic directed to the end-user device 1030, to network controller NC21015, thus ensuring IP address mobility.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an end-user device 1130 movingfrom a first connection (e.g., association) with mobile AP MAP4 1140 toa second connection/association with a mobile AP MAPS 1145, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The MAP 41140 may, for example, correspond to MAP4 940, 1040 of FIGS. 9 and 10,and the network controller NC2 1115 may correspond to the networkcontroller NC2 1015 of FIG. 10. In the example of FIG. 11, connectivityfor the end-user device 1130 is already established via MAP4 1140 andthe network controller NC2 1115 (illustrated by the double line). In thearrangement illustrated in FIG. 11, both MAP4 1140 and MAPS 1145 “belongto” (i.e., are “owned by”) the network controller NC2 1115, inaccordance with the previous discussion. In this situation, interactionbetween the second, newly connected MAPS 1145 and the network controllerNC2 1115 keeps the link with the end-user device 1130 up-to-date in thenetwork. As illustrated in FIG. 11 and previously discussed above withregard to FIG. 10, when the end-user device 1130 moves within range ofand connects to (e.g., associates with) the MAPS 1145, the MAPS 1145sends a registration request with the User ID associated with theend-user device 1130 to network controller NC2 1115. The followingdiscussion with regard to FIG. 12 provides additional details.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the response of a networkcontroller NC2 1215 to a registration request received from a MAPS 1245connected to an end-user device 1230, which may correspond,respectively, to the network controller NC2 1115, the end-user device1130, and the MAPS 1145 of FIG. 11, in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure. In the upper portion of FIG. 12, the networkcontroller NC2 1215, upon receiving the registration request from theMAPS 1245, determines that the end-user device 1230 is already known tothe NC 1215, and therefore returns to the MAPS 1245, the same end-userdevice IP address that it had previously been assigned, as discussedabove with regard to FIG. 10. In the lower portion of FIG. 12, any datatraffic directed to the end-user device 1230 is then forwarded throughthe MAPS 1245 and the network controller NC2 1215 to the end-user device1230.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating example network behavior when anend-user device 1330 already communicating via, for example, MAPS 1245of FIG. 12 encounters and connects to a MAP6 1347, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. The end-user device 1330, thenetwork controller NC2 1315, and the MAPS 1245 may, for example,correspond to the end-user devices 730, 830, 930, 1030, 1130, 1230; thenetwork controllers 915, 1015, 1115, 1215; and the MAPS 1145, 1245,discussed above with respect to FIGS. 7-12. In the example of FIG. 13,the MAP6 1347 has been assigned to network controller NC1 1310. Thenetwork controller NC1 1310 may, for example, correspond to the networkcontroller NC1 1010 of FIG. 10. As discussed above with regard to FIG.10, information linking an identifier of an end-user device (e.g.,end-user devices 1030, 1130, 1230, 1330) to the IP address assigned tothe end-user device by the “owning” NC (e.g., the NC2 1015, 1115, 1215,1315 that originally assigned the IP address to the end-user device),and to information identifying the “owning” network controller (e.g.,NC2 1015, 1115, 1215, 1315) is communicated by the “owning” networkcontroller NC2 1010 to the other NCs of the network (including an NCsuch as the network controller NC10 1310) when the end-user device firstconnects to a an AP (e.g., a FAP or MAP). Therefore, every NC in anetwork of moving things as described herein knows the end-user deviceID (e.g., User ID, MAC address), the assigned IP address, and theidentifier of the “owning” NC (e.g., IP address of the “owning” NC) forevery end-user device connected via an AP of the network. Accordingly,when an NC of the network receives an end-user device request to connect(e.g., register or associate) with the network, the NC uses the receivedUser ID to determine whether the NC receiving the request currently“owns” the requesting end-user device. If the NC finds that it does not“own” the end-user device, the NC provides to the AP serving therequesting end-user device, the IP address that was previously assignedto the end-user device having that User ID. As previously discussedabove, if the User ID of the requesting end-user device is known to theNC receiving the request to connect, the NC provides the assigned IPaddress to end-user device via the serving AP, and notifies the NC that“owns” the end-user device that requested connection. For example, asillustrated in the upper portion of FIG. 13, the network control NC11310 notifies the network controller NC2 1315 (the “owner” of theend-user device 1330) that the end-user device 1330 is now connected tonetwork controller NC1 1310. Once this notification is complete, alldata traffic destined for the end-user device 1330 is forwarded by thenetwork controller NC2 1315 to network controller NC1 1310, which thenforwards the data traffic to the end-user device 1330 via MAP6 1347.Data traffic from the end-user device 1330 proceeds along the reverse ofthis path to network controller NC2 1315 via network controller NC11310. In this manner, the “owning” network controller remains the pointthrough which data traffic for all end-user devices “owned” by thenetwork controller passes.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, if an APassigned to a network-connected end-user device fails, the end-userdevice simply requests a connection from the nearest available AP, andthe NC of the new AP assigns to the end-user device the same IP addressthat the end-user device had been assigned when operating with thefailed AP. This is possible because the NC of the AP to which theend-user device initially connect (i.e., the “owner”) notified all NCsof the network (including the NC of the new AP) of the “owner” of theend-user device. The NC of the new AP, therefore, knows the “owner” NCof the end-user device, and begins forwarding the data traffic to/fromthe end-user device via the same “owner” NC using the processillustrated in and described above with respect to FIGS. 9 through 13.

It should be noted that, although the above discussions of aspects ofthe present disclosure focus primarily on examples involving the use ofmobile access points (MAPs), aspects of the present disclosure applyequally to end-user devices that connect to a network of the presentdisclosure via fixed access points (FAPs). That is, a FAP, although notmovable, may still be the initial point in the network at which anend-user wirelessly connects, and an end-user may move their end-userdevice from a situation in which their end-user device is connectedwirelessly via the initial fixed AP connection into a connection withanother fixed AP, or with a mobile AP, creating situations having thesame mobility concerns. Therefore, the use of the mobile access point inthe present disclosure should not be interpreted as a limitation of thepresent disclosure, but it should be recognized that the presentdisclosure applies equally to both mobile and fixed APs in ways similarto those described and addressed above.

A network in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosuremay provide failure protection by having each NC send a periodic “alive”message containing an identifier of the NC to all other NCs of thenetwork. If a given NC stops sending this “alive” message, the remainingNCs may initiate an “election mechanism” to nominate an NC that willoperate to replace the failed NC (e.g., adopt all of the end-userdevices “owned” by the NC that stopped sending the “alive” message).Such an “election mechanism” may, for example, have each NC report itsresources (e.g., current processor load, aggregate data traffic, etc.)to all other NCs, to enable each particular NC to determine whether theparticular NC is best able to take on the duties of the failed NC. TheNC that is best able to handle the additional work of the failed NC maythen use the information shared by all NCs (described above) thatidentifies end-user devices, their assigned IP addresses, their currentAP, and their assigned “owner” NC to identify all end-user devicescurrently assigned to the failed NC, and to adjust network operation ofthe NCs and the APs assigned to the failed NC, therebyretargeting/reassigning traffic for those end-user devices to the NC nowassuming the duties of the failed NC.

In accordance with other aspects of the present disclosure, the networkmay comprise a “spare” NC that monitors the network and receives theend-user device information updates of the NCs, so that if a particularNC fails, the “spare” NC may automatically replace the failed NC,thereby avoiding a need for an “election mechanism” described above.

In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, end-userdevices are assigned the same IP addresses since NCs share between themall the assignments performed, which means that when an NC fails, thefailed NC has already shared information about its end-user devices withall of the other NCs of the network.

A network of moving things in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure supports managing mobility of users seamlessly, amongdifferent technologies, vehicles, networks, and/or service providersthat can be ultimately connected to the same or different NCs, providinga mechanism that increases the scalability, performance, and fail-overprotection of the network solution when dealing with the volatile,high-speed, and dynamically changing context of vehicular environments.

Various aspects of the present disclosure may be seen in a method ofoperating a controller that manages mobility of a plurality of end-userdevices in a network of moving things. Such a method may comprisewirelessly receiving, from a particular end-user device of the pluralityof end-user devices via a first access point of the network, anidentifier of the particular end-user device and a request to establisha wireless connection with the network; and determining whether theidentifier of the particular end-user device is known to the controller.The method may comprise, if the particular end-user device is not knownto the controller, assigning a network address to the particularend-user device; and if the particular end-user device is known to thecontroller, retrieving the network address that was previously assignedto the particular end-user device, and sending the network address tothe particular end-user device to enable wireless communication via thenetwork. The first access point may be arranged to wirelessly couple theparticular end-use device to the controller via a second wirelessnetwork connection, and the second wireless network may employ acommunication protocol different from a communication protocol employedby the particular end-user device. The first access point may be amobile access point of a vehicle.

In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the particularend-user device may be known to the controller when the identifier ofthe particular end-user device is present in storage of the controllerthat is allocated to the particular end-user device, and may not beknown to the controller when the identifier of the particular end-userdevice is not present in storage of the controller that is allocated tothe particular end-user device. Assigning the network address to theparticular end-user device may comprise placing, in storage allocated tothe particular end-user device the identifier of the particular end-userdevice, the network address assigned to the particular end-user device,and a network address of the controller; and sending, to the particularend-user device via the first access point, the network address assignedto the particular end-user device. The sending may comprisetransmitting, to at least a second controller of the network, theidentifier of the particular end-user device, the network addressassigned to the end-user device, and the network address of thecontroller. The method may further comprise receiving, from a secondcontroller of the network, notification of a wireless connection of theparticular end-user device with a second access point of the network andstoring a network address of the second controller; and forwarding, tothe particular end-user device via the second access point and thesecond controller of the network, data traffic for the particularend-user device, using the stored network address of the secondcontroller.

Further aspects of the present disclosure may be observed in anon-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a plurality of codesections, where each code section may comprise a plurality ofinstructions executable by one or more processors of a controller. Theone or more processor may performs the actions of a method for managingmobility of a plurality of end-user devices in a network of movingthings, such as the actions of the method described above.

Further aspects of the present disclosure may be found in a controllerfor managing mobility of a plurality of end-user devices in a network ofmoving things. Such a controller may comprise one or more processors forcommunicatively coupling with a non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising instructions executable by the one or more processors, to atleast a first access point of the network, and to the plurality ofend-user devices. The one or more processors may be operable to, atleast, perform the actions of a method, such as the method describedabove.

In accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, examples of thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,192, titled “CommunicationNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, the networksand/or components thereof presented herein are provided with systems andmethods for integrating such networks and/or components with othernetworks and systems, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/221,997, titled “IntegratedCommunication Network for A Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for synchronizing such networks and/or components,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,016, titled “Systems and Methods forSynchronizing a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing such networks and/or components,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,042, titled “Systems and Methods forManaging a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for monitoring such networks and/or components,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/222,066, titled “Systems and Methods forMonitoring a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for detecting and/or classifying anomalies insuch networks and/or components, non-limiting examples of which areprovided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,077, titled“Systems and Methods for Detecting and Classifying Anomalies in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing mobility in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,098, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Mobility in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing connectivity in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,121, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Connectivity a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for collecting sensor data in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,135, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Collecting Sensor Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep.22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for interfacing with such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,145, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Interfacing with a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Sep. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for interfacing with a user of such networksand/or components, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,150, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Interfacing with a User of a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for data storage and processing in such networksand/or components, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,168, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Data Storage and Processing for a Network of Moving Things,” filedon Sep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for vehicle traffic management in such networksand/or components, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,183, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Vehicle Traffic Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for environmental management in such networks and/orcomponents, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,186, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Environmental Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing port or shipping operation in suchnetworks and/or components, non-limiting examples of which are providedin U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/222,190, titled “Systems andMethods for Port Management in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onSep. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for enhancing the accuracy of positioning orlocation information based at least in part on historical data,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/244,828, titled “Utilizing Historical Data toCorrect GPS Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Oct. 22, 2015,which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for enhancing the accuracy of position or locationof positioning or location information based at least in part on theutilization of anchors, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/244,930, titled “Using Anchorsto Correct GPS Data in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Oct. 22,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for providing communication between applications,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/246,368, titled “Systems and Methods forInter-Application Communication in a Network of Moving Things,” filed onOct. 26, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for probing, analyzing and/or validatingcommunication, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/246,372, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Probing and Validating Communication in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Oct. 26, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for adapting communication rate, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/250,544, titled “Adaptive Rate Control for Vehicular Networks,” filedon Nov. 4, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for reconfiguring and adapting hardware,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/273,878, titled “Systems and Methods forReconfiguring and Adapting Hardware in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 31, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for optimizing the gathering of data, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/253,249, titled “Systems and Methods for Optimizing Data Gathering ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Nov. 10, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for performing delay tolerant networking,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/257,421, titled “Systems and Methods for DelayTolerant Networking in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Nov. 19,2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for improving the coverage and throughput ofmobile access points, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/265,267, titled “Systems andMethods for Improving Coverage and Throughput of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 9, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for coordinating channel utilization, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/270,858, titled “Channel Coordination in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for implementing a network coded mesh network in thenetwork of moving things, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/257,854, titled “Systems andMethods for Network Coded Mesh Networking in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Nov. 20, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for improving the coverage of fixed access points,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/260,749, titled “Systems and Methods forImproving Fixed Access Point Coverage in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Nov. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing mobility controllers and their networkinteractions, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/273,715, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Managing Mobility Controllers and Their Network Interactions in aNetwork of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 31, 2015, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for managing and/or triggering handovers ofmobile access points, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/281,432, titled “Systems andMethods for Managing and Triggering Handovers of Mobile Access Points ina Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan. 21, 2016, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for performing captive portal-related control andmanagement, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/268,188, titled “CaptivePortal-related Control and Management in a Network of Moving Things,”filed on Dec. 16, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for extrapolating high-value data, non-limitingexamples of which are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.62/270,678, titled “Systems and Methods to Extrapolate High-Value Datafrom a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Dec. 22, 2015, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for providing remote software updating anddistribution, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/272,750, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Remote Software Update and Distribution in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Dec. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for providing remote configuration updating anddistribution, non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,662, titled “Systems and Methodsfor Remote Configuration Update and Distribution in a Network of MovingThings,” filed on Jan. 14, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Still further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure,the networks and/or components thereof presented herein are providedwith systems and methods for adapting the network, for exampleautomatically, based on user feedback, non-limiting examples of whichare provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/286,243, titled“Systems and Methods for Adapting a Network of Moving Things Based onUser Feedback,” filed on Jan. 22, 2016, which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

Yet further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for enhancing and/or guaranteeing data integritywhen building or performing data analytics, non-limiting examples ofwhich are provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/278,764,titled “Systems and Methods to Guarantee Data Integrity When BuildingData Analytics in a Network of Moving Things,” Jan. 14, 2016, which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Also, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for performing self-initialization and/or automatedbootstrapping of mobile access points, non-limiting examples of whichare provided in U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/286,515, titled“Systems and Methods for Self-Initialization and Automated Bootstrappingof Mobile Access Points in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Jan.25, 2016, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

Additionally, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for managing power supply and/or utilization,non-limiting examples of which are provided in U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/295,602, titled “Systems and Methods for PowerManagement in a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 16, 2016, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Further, in accordance with various aspects of this disclosure, thenetworks and/or components thereof presented herein are provided withsystems and methods for automating and easing the installation and setupof the infrastructure, non-limiting examples of which are provided inU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/299,269, titled “Systems andMethods for Automating and Easing the Installation and Setup of theInfrastructure Supporting a Network of Moving Things,” filed on Feb. 24,2016, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In summary, various aspects of this disclosure provide communicationnetwork architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network ofmobile nodes, for example comprising a combination of mobile andstationary nodes. As a non-limiting example, various aspects of thisdisclosure provide communication network architectures, systems, andmethods for supporting a dynamically configurable communication networkcomprising a complex array of both static and moving communication nodes(e.g., the Internet of moving things). While the foregoing has beendescribed with reference to certain aspects and examples, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be madeand equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosurewithout departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that thedisclosure not be limited to the particular example(s) disclosed, butthat the disclosure will include all examples falling within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a controller that managesmobility of a plurality of end-user devices in a network of movingthings, the method comprising: receiving, from an end-user device of theplurality of end-user devices via a first access point of the network, arequest to establish a wireless connection with the network; determininga network identifier for the end-user device, wherein the networkidentifier is configured for enabling wireless communication via thenetwork, wherein the determining comprises: if the end-user device isnot known to the controller, assigning the network identifier to theend-user device; and if the end-user device is known to the controller,retrieving the network identifier; and sending the network identifier tothe end-user device.
 2. The method according to claim 1, comprisingarranging the first access point to couple the end-use device to thecontroller via a second wireless network connection.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the second wireless network connectionemploys a communication protocol different from a communication protocolemployed by the end-user device.
 4. The method according to claim 1,comprising storing in the controller identification informationassociated with one or more end-user devices of the plurality ofend-user devices.
 5. The method according to claim 4, comprisingdetermining whether the end-user device is known to the controller basedon presence of stored identification information associated with theend-user device.
 6. The method according to claim 4, comprising storing,when the end-user device is not known to the controller, identificationinformation associated with the end-user device.
 7. The method accordingto claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from a second controller ofthe network, notification of a wireless connection of the end-userdevice with a second access point of the network; and forwarding, to theend-user device via the second access point and the second controller ofthe network, data traffic for the end-user device.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising one or more code sections, each codesection comprising one or more instructions executable by one or moreprocessors of a controller that performs actions of a method formanaging mobility of a plurality of end-user devices in a network ofmoving things, the actions of the method comprising: receiving, from anend-user device of the plurality of end-user devices via a first accesspoint of the network, a request to establish a wireless connection withthe network; determining a network identifier for the end-user device,wherein the network identifier is configured for enabling wirelesscommunication via the network, wherein the determining comprises: if theend-user device is not known to the controller, assigning the networkidentifier to the end-user device; and if the end-user device is knownto the controller, retrieving the network identifier; and sending thenetwork identifier to the end-user device.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 8, wherein the actions ofthe method further comprises arranging the first access point to couplethe end-use device to the controller via a second wireless networkconnection.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according toclaim 9, wherein the second wireless network connection employs acommunication protocol different from a communication protocol employedby the end-user device.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 8, wherein the actions of the method furthercomprises storing in the controller identification informationassociated with one or more end-user devices of the plurality ofend-user devices.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 11, wherein the actions of the method furthercomprises determining whether the end-user device is known to thecontroller based on presence of stored identification informationassociated with the end-user device.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the actions ofthe method further comprises storing, when the end-user device is notknown to the controller, identification information associated with theend-user device.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 8, wherein the actions of the method furthercomprises: receiving, from a second controller of the network,notification of a wireless connection of the end-user device with asecond access point of the network; and forwarding, to the end-userdevice via the second access point and the second controller of thenetwork, data traffic for the end-user device.
 15. A system for managingmobility of a plurality of end-user devices in a network of movingthings, the system comprising: one or more storage circuits configuredfor storing of instructions and data; and at least one processingcircuit configured to, based on one or both of the instructions and datastored in the one or more storage circuits: receive, from an end-userdevice of the plurality of end-user devices via a first access point ofthe network, a request to establish a wireless connection with thenetwork; determine a network identifier for the end-user device, whereinthe network identifier is configured for enabling wireless communicationvia the network, wherein the determining comprises: if the end-userdevice is not known to the controller, assign the network identifier tothe end-user device; and if the end-user device is known to thecontroller, retrieve the network identifier; and send the networkidentifier to the end-user device.
 16. The system according to claim 15,wherein the at least one processing circuit is configured to arrange thefirst access point to couple the end-use device to the controller via asecond wireless network connection.
 17. The system according to claim15, wherein the at least one processing circuit is configured to storein at least one of the one or more storage circuits, identificationinformation associated with one or more end-user devices of theplurality of end-user devices.
 18. The system according to claim 17,wherein the at least one processing circuit is configured to determinewhether the end-user device is known to the controller based on presenceof stored identification information associated with the end-userdevice.
 19. The system according to claim 17, wherein the at least oneprocessing circuit is configured to store, when the end-user device isnot known to the controller, identification information associated withthe end-user device.
 20. The system according to claim 15, wherein theat least one processing circuit is configured to: receiving, from asecond controller of the network, notification of a wireless connectionof the end-user device with a second access point of the network; andforwarding, to the end-user device via the second access point and thesecond controller of the network, data traffic for the end-user device.21. The system according to claim 15, wherein the system is implementedin a mobile access point of a vehicle.